New Guy Naga
by Snakeking888
Summary: The Titans meet a new meta-human criminal with the power to control the forces of nature: lightning, fire, earth, ice, water, air. When they find out his true intentions, they offer him a place in the Tower. But this new member has a stranger past than Raven. He has no past; at least none they can find. With his own dark secrets can this new hero keep the friends he's made? OC
1. Meeting a Mystery

**New Guy Naga**

Disclaimers: I **do not **own teen titans. The TV show belongs to Warner Bros. and the comics belong to DC Comics. I also own no legal rights to my original character Naga. However, I would appreciate that he remains my own character. Also if you do not like Naga please say so without profanities and/or general negativity. I work hard to make my own characters and I don't appreciate people bashing them. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy. :)

P.S. If you see the refrences to other shows such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Naruto please know that those two shows, along with Teen Titans, are my favorite shows ever so I drew some inspiration from them and if you see similarities please know that I am not trying to rip-off the shows. Also in this Fanfic the titans ages will be around 15-17 years old.

This story also takes place a few months after the events of Things Change.

**_Chapter 1: Meeting a_ _Mystery_**

It's early morning in Jump City; the working people of the city get to their cars for their weekday commute silently thanking the majestic T-shaped building and the five superpowered angels (more or less for Raven) that watched over them and gave them a sense of security that they could live their lives with a little less fear. However, across the street a figure waiting in the shadows of an alley across the street from the Jump City bank, prepares to make his move. Aiming his right hand at the concrete structure, he charges his attack of lightning and fire.

**_Titans Tower:_**

It's just a regular morning for the five saviors of Jump City. Robin and Starfire are getting their respective breakfast's:

Robin's: waffles, two eggs, and orange juice. Starfire's: Burnt waffles (like the time Raven made breakfast in The End) coated in mustard (her favorite "beverage"). Raven had her usual herbal tea; and Cyborg and Beast Boy were having their usual "Meat is murder" and "Tofu is crap" arguments, with Beast Boy having three tofu waffles on his plate and Cyborg with an unhealthy amount of bacon and eggs on his plate (his whole stomach system is mechanical so he doesn't have to worry too much about health issues).

As each Titan sat at the table and quietly ate their breakfast, the alarm signaled that there was trouble. "Aw man, that thing always goes off at the worst times," complained Cyborg, who was only half way through his bacon.

Shouting his famous battle cry, "Titans Go!" Robin and the other titans ran/flew/drove off too the Jump City bank, which was the site of the disaster.

* * *

**_Jump City Bank_**

The people depositing and withdrawing money from the bank, along with the bank tellers, had no idea of what had happened. One minute they're doing what they usually do when suddenly, a large explosion puts the main lobby in pieces.

One of the tellers still at her desk, a young woman of about 23, sees through the dust, the source of the attack. He was just about taller than the gray, purple-haired titan, while still a little shorter than the orange red-headed titan. He was dressed in a black trench coat that went down to his lower legs, that had crimson lightning streaks on it, a gray t-shirt with a blood red cobra on the front, that looked like it was about to attack, and a pair of black pants (he really liked the colors black and red), while going bare-foot. She noticed he had on a hat with a large rim, that obscured most of his head while on his face he wore a pair of fitted, pitch black sun-glasses, and a midnight-blue mask that covered the lower half of his face.

He casually walked up to the front counter, as if there was no gaping, smoldering hole in the wall. Aiming his right hand's index and middle finger at the clerk in the shape of a gun, he made a simple statement: "Give me 50,000 dollars and I'll leave," he said. However, to make sure she would comply, he ran black lightning across the length of his arm and shot it at a bare patch of ground that was instantly turned into a crater. Seeing this display of power made the clerk immediatly start stuffing a bag with wads of hundreds.

"Thank you," was all the figure said as he left through the hole.

Unfortunatly before he could take off, the Titans had arrived and had him surrounded.

After about a two minute long awkward pause, Robin was the first to speak. Trying to reason with the mystery man Robin said, "okay, put down the money, come along quietly, and your prison sentence might be a little easy." Soon after Robin was done trying to negotiate, the crook raised his hand and engulfed the area around him in intense flames causing all of the heroes to move back.

"Seriously Rob, don't you know that negotiating never works," declared Cyborg arming his sonic cannon. Shouting his signature "BOOOO-YAAAA!" he made a clear shot at the young thief, only to see him quickly evade it and jump literally through the flames without so much as a scorch mark.

However, the crook was caught off guard when a green rhino sent him flying into a wall. The only response that came out of him when he regained consciousness was "ow," and a few grunts that were mostly covered up by his mask. Straightning his shades and putting down his money so he could fight, he used fire from his feet as a sort of rocket propulsion, and with his improvised feet rockets he charged at the alien, trying to shoot her down with a bolt of lightning. Unfortunantly the unknown assailent hadn't anticipated for starfire to be such an areial master, and was caught off guard when she did a barrel roll and threw a barrage of starbolts at him from behind. After regaining himself, he decided to go with a different tactic: throw heavy objects. Using his earth manipulation, he tore apart and lifted a huge piece of the street and threw it at the blue robed empath, who simply teleported away from the projectile, and reappeared behind her opponent.

Speaking her montra, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she immediatly trapped her attacker in a sphere of dark energy.

"If your not going to cooperate at least tell us what your name is," Raven declared.

Figuring it would be easier for them to know what his name was, he imprinted in the dirt "N-A-G-A."

"Raven what is a Naga," inquired Starfire to her blue robed friend.

"A Naga is a creature in hindu mythology that looked like a humanoid snake."

"So why do they call you Naga? Tell me it's not just because of the shirt" mocked Beast Boy.

In need of good laugh, and since he was still in Raven's dark energy sphere, Naga decided to give them a good fright. Naga pulled down his mask and quickly opened his mouth while emitting a guttural shriek. What the Titans saw scared them more than the scream. Where normal canines would usually be, instead there were four ivory white serpentine fangs.

"Really Beast Boy, you had to ask?" Robin said to the green Titan.

"How was I supposed to know he had fangs?" Beast Boy shot back.

All the while the five continued arguing, Naga had already thought up a plan to escape. As soon as he knew that they had pretty much forgotten about him he engulfed his captors in a sphere of water that he had pulled out of a manhole, throwing Raven out of her concentration so that she dropped the prison. Each of them was soon released and while they were in disarray Naga made it back to his bag of money and flew away on a lightning bolt.

As soon as the Titans got back to the tower they started treating any cuts and bruises and tried to find out who Naga really was.

When Raven had kept Naga in her sphere, Cyborg had used a small camera on his shoulder to get a photo of him while he screamed at them. Strangely though, when he and Robin cross-referenced every known source of information of people on the planet, nothing about anyone who looked like Naga (in case your wondering about Naga's skin tone, it's like a very good tan).

It was as if he was literally formed from nowhere.

"Maybe he's some sort of alien; we already know that there's aliens that look like humans," interjected Beast Boy.

"Starfire do you know of any alien species that look like Naga and can do what he did?" inquired Robin to his girlfriend (that's right they made it official).

"Unfortunately I have never heard of an alien species that is similar to the being we fought; forgive me for my lack of knowledge," Starfire begged, feeling useless for not presenting any useful information.

"It's ok Starfire," Raven reasurred her alien friend.

"What about you Raven, could you tell if he was human?" Cyborg asked his little sister.

"Honestly I think he's human, but when I tried to sense his emotions I couldn't get a definite answer, but I'm pretty sure he is human," Raven added.

"Whoever he is we'll have to be extra careful if he ever shows up again," Robin told his team. He then added: "But for now let's just enjoy today."

And with that Raven sat in a corner reading some book as always, Cyborg and Beast Boy were trying to kill each other in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 on Xbox 360 (I wanted to put in a name brand game and system), and Robin and Starfire went out to the peer carnival for a date.

**In Liberia, Africa  
**

In a remote village, where children don't always get enough to eat, a small girl finds a sack with a note on it. After getting some adults to check it out they find $50,000 dollars inside. An elderly woman who understood english read the note and translated it to Liberian. _"You can exchange this money for Liberian currency. If you exchange it all at once people may become suspicious."_ And that was all the letter said. There was no name or any clues as to who it was from. Taking the advice from whoever sent the letter the villagers hid away the money, planning to exchange little by little each day. Meanwhile as Naga watches from the forest he knows where his next location is and he rides the lightning northeast.

**The JJ Market in Thailand**

It's almost morning in what looked like a normal store. However, inside was a whole different story. This store was a secret stop for mass illegal animal smuggling. In a back room are crates full of rare bengal tiger cubs who are about to be killed and sold for their pelts. As the killer gets his knifes ready for the slaughtering he notices a shadow move. "Who's there!" he yells in Thai. He pulls his gun out of his jacket when he sees Naga's silhouette. He pulls the trigger, firing bullet after bullet, only for Naga avoid each shot, and to already be two feet away. With clear shot Naga blasted his prey with one burst of lightning to the chest, paralyzing him throughout his body. Finding paper and a pen he wrote:_"To the police, search the filing cabinets in the back office to find out more about what's been going on here. And make sure these animals are put back into their proper habitat."_

And with that Naga made a call to the police, and as soon as the officers arrived and went inside, they saw the unconcious body and the note. After sending back all the files they had found to the lab for examination, they also had conservationists ship the animals off to a national wildlife reserve.

"At least there's some justice," in the world Naga told himself flying away.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

So we find out what Naga really does, how will the Titans find out

Please leave positive reviews please.


	2. Return

**New Guy Naga**

Author's Note: Everything in _"Italics"_ will be thought, people on TV, and/or writing, just so you know

You may get some new questions in this chapter. ;)

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Return**_

It'd been two days since Naga's attack, and people were trying to forget that he ever existed. The bank was being reconstructed and the roads were being re-tarred. Robin was trying to find out anything he could about their new addition to the wanted list. He wasn't obssessing over it like he did with Slade. He didn't find many leads (actually he didn't find any leads at all), so he decided to just wait until Naga's next attack, if there would be a next attack. They already made a new strategy for the next time they met the snake kid; they would attack him all at once to overwhelm any defenses he might have. Raven would use her astral raven form, Cyborg would attack with both sonic cannons and anything else in his arsenal, and do the sonic boom with Robin if necessary, Starfire would go full out Tamaranian warrior, and Beast Boy would try something new (he had been practicing turning into alien creatures since their return from Starfire's false wedding).

On the rooftop of a skyscraper Naga sits watching as the numerous humans come and go.

_"Ugghh... Don't they make you sick just watching them"_ an angry voice out of six other voices had said.

_"Why do you dislike the humans so much Inferno?"_ a calm voice asked.

_"Yeah they're a lot of fun to mess with,"_ added someone who was clearly trying to supress laughter.

Inferno answered the question directed at him: _"because, dear Marina, the humans have done nothing but ruin the Earth, even you can't deny the choking oil they put into the seas."_

Marina simply stated _"I will not turn a blind eye to what they've caused, but I will not always look on the negative side of things like you do, and Airheart, it's not polite to 'mess with someone' the way you do."_

(Cut scene to go to Naga's mind where he is with six figures: Darkvolt, a midnight-black dragon the size of a car; Inferno, a red, human-sized beast that looks like a humanoid-form of a chupacabra (look it up on Google Images or use this link, wiki/Chupacabra, you'll know what I mean.); Sub-Terror, a creature that looked like Shukaku from Naruto, only with four scorpion legs, five eyes on a cat-like head, a scorpion's tail, and two diamonds coming out of his shoulders (bizarre isn't it ;P); Frostbite, a giant, snowy blue werewolf with icicles growing on his back; Marina, a blue, truck sized lobster; and Airheart a 12 foot tall, grey falcon.)

(Cut scene back to Naga on the building conversing with the six beings through thought)

_"It is funny to see them scatter in every direction whenever you blow up a hydrant,"_ Naga admitted to Airheart.

_"They're pathetic,"_ Inferno cut in.

_"They just need time to develop,"_ Marina claimed

_"They've had 200,000 years to develop and they still haven't gotten past their own moon,"_ Inferno retorted.

_"Would both of you SHUT UP!"_ Naga and Darkvolt screamed at the same time.

_"Whenever you guys fight I always end up with a headache, cut it out ok,"_ Naga scolded.

_"We apologize for causing you discomfort Naga,"_ said Marina as she tried to soothe the rage that she and Inferno had caused him.

_"It's ok; just keep it down," _said Naga as he reassured the voices in his head.

_"You know Airheart, I think I'll try your sense of humor; and don't worry Marina I'm not going to 'hurt' anyone,"_ Naga thought as he got up and got ready to cause some panic.

* * *

**_Titans Tower in the Afternoon_**

The Titans come into the living room after a day of training.

"Yo, Rob, don't you think it's about time we upgraded the obstacle courses and the training equipment," Cyborg asked his spikey haired leader.

"Yeah Cyborg, the courses are becoming way to easy, and the gym equipment is a little outdated," Robin told his metallic friend as everyone sat down at the couch. Robin was the first to get to the remote so he would decide what they watched, soon though, one of those annoying "Breaking News," reports came on. Unfortunately, the report was on every other channel, so the Titans could do nothing but wait it out. This report however, immediately caught the young heroes attention.

"_Breaking News. About two days ago, police forces in Thailand made numerous arrests of illegal animal smugglers in the JJ Market, but that's not the strange part. The strange part is that this help seems to have come from nowhere. This all began two days ago when the police recieved an anonymous call and arrived at a seemingly normal store. Now police in Thailand are not allowed to investigate stores that are closed off to the public, but oddly enough this store literally had the doors wide open._ (Cut to image of police entering an open store)_. Once inside the police found the body of the stores proprietor, paralyzed in the middle of the store with a gun in his hand, suggesting he was injured in a fight._ (Cut scene to body of the man lying stiff on the floor)_. However, the only marks indicating a struggle are the burn marks around his chest, suggesting he accidentally electrocuted himself. Along with the body the police found a back room filled with endangered Bengal Tiger cubs, and a chart showing that they would be scheduled for slaughter and have their pelts sold._ (Cut to Titans living room where Beast Boy is enraged that someone would hurt any animals especially rare tiger cubs, and Starfire who was just mad anyone would hurt a creature so adorable. The other Titans are upset by this news but hide it better)_. The police also find a note that says, and I quote, **"To the police, search the filing cabinets in the back office to find out more about what's been going on here. And make sure these animals are put back into their proper habitat,"** with no hint as to who had left the note. Upon searching the filing cabinets thoroughly the local law enforcements learn of the suppliers and buyers of the endangered species sold throughout the entire JJ Market. With this much incriminating evidence the police forces are given the power to search any suspicious stores regardless if they're opened or not. However, the attacker has of yet to be discovered, there is even debate on whether or not it was intentional, accidental, or even attempted suicide. Some people believe it was possibly an overzealous animal liberation activist. If the case truly is attempted murder, then it is a matter of human law vs. morality. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program_."

The news report ended and the usually aired cooking program comes back on.

"I say that if they ever find the dude who attacked that guy, they should thank him for what he did," said Beast Boy breaking the silence that followed the news report. The three Titans that didn't show their anger, looked at him with shock that their most laid back member actually approved of the person's death.

"I agree with friend Beast Boy," Starfire interjected. "On my world the slaughter of the young and innocent is one of the most atrocious acts, and one of the most unforgivable," she added.

Robin broke the second awkward pause with, "I'm not saying that what the animal smugglers did wasn't wrong but still, the guy should've at least been tied up, not electrocuted." To diffuse the tension, Cyborg suggested that they go out for pizza.

**_Pizza Restaurant Downtown_**

The Titans are sitting down at their usual table on top of the roof with a large pizza that is a mix of: regular, meat-lovers, vegetarian, mushroom, and mustered-coated (you can guess who that's for). After almost an hour the teen superheroes finish their food, payed the bill, and headed out to the T-Car when an explosion at a jewelery store puts them into hero mode. Walking out of the store with their usual smug faces, came the H.I.V.E. Five: Angel, See-More, Gizmo, Mammoth, Kyd Wykkyd, and Billy Numerous (Gotcha. You thought it was Naga ;P). The heroes and villains didn't even exchange unpleasantries, as they already had a feeling about how this would turn out. What the Titans didn't expect was for the H.I.V.E.'s new toys.

Since Jinx was no longer part of the H.I.V.E., Angel became the groups new leader, and she and her comrades had with them some rather deadly gauntlets (gloves), and enhanced visors. When Robin tried thowing a few exploding discs, a group of Billy Numerous' had caught them with their gauntlets, which absorbed the explosion and shot deadly green energy beems which turned the road they were standing on into liquid tar.

Kyd Wykkyd teleported in front of the startled heroes and used his gauntlets to hurl several empty cars at the Titans. "Cyborg what's up with those devices," Raven asked.

After analyzing the pair of gloves and visor of each ciminal, he came back with his recordings.

"It seems that their gloves give them energy beam projection, electromagnetic manipulation, and their visors give them the same capabilities as my cybernetic eye."

"Cyborg you should get out of here," Robin ordered his best friend.

"Don't even argue about it dude. With those magnet gloves you're in real danger," Beast Boy urged, not wanting anything to happen to his big brother, remembering how worried he was after the fight in the junkyard against the Amazing Mumbo. But before Cyborg could get away Gizmo, while using his new toy, grabbed Cyborg and smashed him up, down, and across the street. "Take this ya' jackass," shouted Gizmo (after they were thawed out from being frozen by the Titans, Gizmo decided to update his use of profanity).

Naga was sitting in the shadows messing with people by freezing them from the knees down, busting sewer pipes, causing the streets to flood, and throwing the sewer water in people's faces, when he heard an explosion about a block and a half away.

Travelling through the alleys and in the shadows, he saw the Titans in epic combat against what he suspected to be the H.I.V.E. Five. He had heard that this group was nothing but a bunch of petty criminals that normally got their asses kicked by the Titans, but now they actually seemed formidable in holding their own, and even getting the upper hand on the Guardians of Jump City.

The metal man seemed to be getting the main end of the beating, with his right leg magnetically forced off, while the other four had massive burn marks across their bodies. As the six criminals (I never did get why they called themselves the H.I.V.E. Five when there are six of them, not to mention a varying number of Billies), surrounded the heroes for the kill, the flashing neon morality sign inside of him kept screaming _"HELP THEM!"_

As the delinquent supervillains aimed their gloves, ready to strike the final blow, from out of nowhere, the area around the Titans became encased in a dome made out of diamonds. As the H.I.V.E. Five continually shot at the dome trying to destroy it they noticed a person in a trench coat, sunglasses, and a wide hat, with his right arm stretched out, and the muscles in his fingers straining to keep his construct up.

"So you must be the guy who came and left two days ago," Angel concluded.

"Why are you protecting these bastards? If you're a villain you would help us send them to hell," Gizmo questioned from his spider-legged apparatus.

"I'm not a petty thief like you idiots. I don't steal for my own monitary gain," Naga stated.

As soon as he was finished the H.I.V.E. Five threw a barrage of energy and metal objects at the solo figure, who instead of avoiding the attack, shot multiple bolts of lightning, disrupting the beams course and destroying everything that was thrown at him. Grinning wide enough to reveal his fangs and to make his enemies nervous, he dashed towards the group dodging their attacks, while simultaneously using his ice covered hands to slice through two of Gizmo's mechanical spider legs.

After dodging several energy beams fired by See-More and Kyd Wykkyd, Angel tried to take Naga on in hand-to-hand combat. However, this proved to be a big mistake; Naga quickley avoided Angel's punches, grabbed her by the wrists and increased the pressure, with the intent of breaking them, while hearing her scream bloody murder.

However, while he was causing Angel ever increasing agony, Kyd Wykkyd aimed a shot and caught Naga on the right side of the chest throwing him back several feet. As Naga got up there seemed to be something under the spot where he got hit. It wasn't from the energy beams, because it was only a few inches wide, surrounded by areas of skin that wasn't burned. While all of this was going on the Titans regained consciousness and saw the person that they tried to arrest saving them from oblivion's embrace. They also saw the mark under his shirt, but before any of them could say anything about it, he closed his coat and continued fighting.

Naga now fought with a new primal instinct, breaking any bones he could aim at. When Mammoth ambushed him and sent him going back near the bay, Naga used his water control to make squid-like tentacles form from the water and tried to crush his combatants. Using one of their battle formations, the H.I.V.E. managed to get up close to Naga and simultaneously aimed at his head in an effort to decapitate him. At the last minute Naga was able to form an ice shield over himself, but it wasn't soon enough, as the energy beams, along with Gizmo's personal arsenal had overwhelmed him knocking him back into the bay, seemingly dead. On the water's surface floated Naga's hat and sunglasses, which eventually sank to the sea floor below.

"That was fun wasn't it," Angel concluded, as she and her teammates refocused their attention back onto the Titans, who had been left exposed to attack, when Naga's crystal dome fell when he did.

Prepared to finish what they started, the H.I.V.E. aimed at the Titans; but before they could fire, they were disrupted by an earthquake, and Naga who appeared from out of the ground only without his hat and glasses. Everyone immediatley realised why he wore them.

The hat was used to cover up a very large, loosley curled afro, while the glasses were to cover up a pair of eyes that had blood red iris'. Seeing Naga's fro made the H.I.V.E. Five burst into laughter, despite the crimson eyes that seemed to pierce through you.

"Nice hair ya' freak," Gizmo shouted.

"Hmph... At least I've got hair," Naga retaliated, which caused Gizmo to turn almost as red as Naga's eyes. Before Gizmo could say anything, however, the atmoskines summoned a tornado to completely surround him and create a maelstrom out of anything that wasn't alive or merged to the ground, including the T-Car. When there was enough debris, Naga forced the tornado at the H.I.V.E., knocking out a group of Billies, See-More, and Mammoth.

When Gizmo, Kyd Wykkyd, some other Billies, and Angel tried to escape, multiple hands made out of stone grabbed them and held them down. Naga then brought out four pillars of earth, placed them over Angel, and made a twisted looking grin that showed his fangs.

Naga then shouted "PILLARS OF JUDGEMENT!," and used them to crush Angel's arms and legs, rendering her unable to move. During the ordeal the Titans were able to pick themselves up and rushed over to their savior/enemy. Soon the police arrived and brought a prison ambulance for Angel, while pointing their guns at the other H.I.V.E. members along with Naga. When they were about to put a pair of power inhibitters on him, Robin told them that they would be holding him in Titans Tower. Whatever surprise Naga had he tried to mask, although he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. However, instead of just going away, curiousity overtook him, and he decided to see where this would lead.

**_Back at Titans Tower_**

When the Titans got back home they led Naga into one of the lower levels, and placed him into one of their "Maximum Priority Containment Cells." Once inside Robin, while using an intercom, told him: "Just so you know, trying to escape won't be a good idea. This holding cell was made with Justice League tech to house criminals as dangerous as the Brotherhood of Evil, and this room is made completely out of petroleum so your geomancing won't be of much use; and..." however, before he could say anything else Naga interrupted saying: "why are you keeping me here? Wouldn't it have been easier to just hand me over to the police, not that I would go."

"Even if we did hand you over, to the local authorities, and even if they had put you into their best cells, it would be safe to assume you could escape," Robin said.

"It's good that you did take me because I would have been sentenced to death if I went with the police," Naga exclaimed. "Why?" asked Beast Boy sensing a secret about to be unravelled. While not saying too much, but while not lying at the same time he told them that he was the one who attacked the store owner in Thailand.

The Titans decided to talk in the hall about what they should do and to get some food, they started to talk about what to do with their guest/captive.

"He'll just escape if we give him to the police," Raven stated.

"Yeah but still it's kinda weird just being in the same area as him, let alone the same building," Cyborg argued.

"I say we keep him," Beast Boy practically shouted. The other four teens new why he would let him stay, but they still had to ask, "Why?"

"Well for one he's really strong, I mean did you see what he did to the H.I.V.E., I mean sure it was unsettling, but really cool." After about ten minutes of debate, Robin decided they would keep him on a sort of probation: Naga would stay in the tower and would only go into town with at least one other Titan, and if he proved to be a trustworthy ally, they would offer him membership into the Teen Titans.

After the five told him about the deal, Robin told Naga he wanted Raven to do a mind sweep of him, to make sure he wasn't working for someone who wanted to see them in coffins. Naga kept objecting to the intrusion, but since he was literally powerless, he had no say in the matter, Raven's signature black astral Raven projection entered his mind, causing his eyes to become purple like hers. At first she was surprised by the mental barriers that she was confronted with, but eventually she got through. Everything she saw inside his mind was clouded and indistinguishable. Eventually she came to a large crystal door, with a large, black snake marked onto it. When she teleported through it, she saw six hazy white silhouettes. However, before she could figure out what they were, she was confronted by a snake made out of dark lightning that was as big as her astral projection. The bird of prey and the legless reptile both fought their hardest; unfortunately for Raven, since she was in Naga's mind, she was much less powerful than in the real world, and she was eventually thrown back into her own body.

As Raven regained consciousness Starfire had come up to her demonic friend and asked her what she had seen. Raven told them that there was no subterfuge, but as soon as they were out of earshot she said, "I think it would be a good idea to keep a really close eye on him."


	3. Learning to Live Together

**New Guy Naga**

**Disclaimer:** Anything that is in real life that I mention in my story, I don't own

P.S. Please review, and if you have anything negative to say, at least word it nicely. Also, expect to see a few Young Justice influences

Now on with the show...er, fanfiction. ;P

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Learning to Live Together**_

The day after Naga was offered a chance to join the Titans, the Tower was filled with nothing but awkwardness. Apparently, after hearing about Angel's maiming at the hands of the atmoskines (weather controler), all the villains, super-powered or not, had gone into hiding, which just made things more awkward because there was nothing to do. Starfire, in an attempt to show their new guest "the good will," convinced her friends to move him out of his holding cell and let him stay on the couch to "promote the friendship." Two days after Naga had moved in they decided to test him on their new and improved gymnasium and obstacle courses. First he was tested with the improved target drones Starfire would usually use. At first he was doing fine until the drones started coming out faster than he could blast them. Knowing that he would soon be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, he decided to play one of his trump cards. Flying into the air, he surrounded himself in a lightning bubble and then forced it in every direction, destroying the drones. Next came Beast Boy's Treadmill, only the treadmill had been outfitted with solid state holograms of various terrains, from flat grasslands to mountain peaks. They started out with the default conveyer belt, this, however, turned out to be too easy as the belt couldn't go as fast as Naga, who, with enough time could exceed speeds of 100 mph. Deciding to test his speed at the old stadium where Cyborg kicked atlas' golden ass into a crater, literally. Robin told Naga to go as fast as he could around the perimeter of the field in 7 minutes. At first Naga started running on his legs, but he soon needed more support for his speed, or else he would have collapsed over himself; so he started runing on all fours. Naga was almost done with only two minutes left in his run when Robin's communicator played its signature ringtone. "We have a massive fire in the warehouse district. Titans, and Naga, Go!"

To say That the ocean-side warehouses were on fire would have been a severe understatement. It looked like Trigon had made it back to Earth and released all of hell onto the buildings. Robin told everyone to find any people trapped inside the storage buildings. After about a half-hour Raven came up to her leader telling him that they had gotten just about everyone they could find. Naga eventually added that anyone that they may have missed had either escaped or was having their bones reduced to ashes. "OK, we got everyone still alive out, but dudes how are we going to stop that fire?" Beast Boy inquired as the fire was too big for any of the Titans to put out, but soon Robin got an idea. "Naga, can you absorb fire and heat?" Robin asked the trainee.

"Yeah but..."

"I need you to take in that fire," Robin said

"I don't think that that's such a good idea," Naga replied

"Don't argue just do it!" Robin screamed, not only to get his point across, but to try and be heard over the hell on earth.

"Would you listen to me!" Naga tried to explain

"Uh, dudes," Beast Boy nervously said as he tried to direct his friends attention to the blaze that was edging towards them.

"If you don't do something, this whole town will be a crater," Raven yelled.

"Fine!" Naga screamed.

_You'll wish you had listened to me._ Naga thought to himself.

_Stupid humans,_ he heard Inferno say. (If you forget who Inferno is read the previous chapter).

Putting both arms out toward the fire, the pyromancer started to pull the fire into his very body. After about eight minutes the fire was completely gone, and Naga fell to his knees, exhausted from the effort. The five heroes, excluding Raven, started to rejoice in the averted crisis, when they heard a shriek that would have made the fire sound like a pillow going down a flight of stairs. Turning towards its source they saw Naga cradling both of his arms, with fire involuntary coming out his hands. "The temperature throughout his whole body is off the charts," Cyborg informed his comrades after scanning Naga with his cybernetic eye, even though they could already tell from the heat that was coming off of him.

They were eventually forced back when Naga created a circle of fire around himself. Centering all of the heat between his fangs, the crimson-eyed hero, created a fire ball that grew to the size of a bowling ball. Naga soon let loose the fire ball out a mile away from the bay, where even that far out they could see a mushroom cloud forming from the blast. After the explosion subsided Naga collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Putting the snake-fanged hero in an obsidian energy bowl, Raven and the rest of the Titans raced back to the Tower and put him in the infirmary. Soon the room was filled with Raven's healing blue energy, curing the severe burns on Naga's arms. "I've restored his arms as best I could, but he'll need them wrapped up," Raven told Cyborg, who started pulling out a box full of gauze.

* * *

_**Titans Tower**_

Naga soon woke up to the sound of a heart monitor and its classic _'beep, beep, beep'_ while also hearing muffled voices in the background.

_"I think he's coming around!"_ Beast Boy informed the other Titans

_"Is our new friend ok?"_ Starfire asked with concern in her voice.

_"How is he doing Robin?"_ Raven asked the spikey haired leader.

_"His vital signs seem normal, but that blast took a lot out of him,"_ Robin informed his team.

"What's up?" was all Naga could say as he struggled to prop himself up on his elbows. He soon found that the black trenchcoat with the red lightning patterns he usually wore, was sitting on a nearby chair, and that his arms were covered in medical bandages.

"It's good to see you up man; you really gave us a scare," Cyborg said as he patted the young hero on back.

"How long have I been asleep?" Naga questioned.

"At least a day," Robin informed the bandaged teen.

"Dude, what happened to you? What was up with the huge explosion?" Beast Boy questioned

"Ugh. That's what I was trying to tell you guys. Whenever I absorb fire or heat, I have to expel it from my system. It varies with how much I absorb; small amounts I can hold in for a while, but when I absorb amounts like I just did, it'll hurt me instantly."

"I know, I had to heal the burns on your arms after we got back here." Raven informed him

"Thanks," Naga replied.

"Oh please forgive us friend for not being patient and for not listening?" Starfire said all together, while embracing Naga in a hug that would've turned a normal human's bones into fine powder.

"I'll... forgive-you... if-you-let-me-go." Naga tried to say in between gasps for air.

"C'mon Star, he just regained conciousness, don't crush him to death." Cyborg told Starfire while holding back a laugh.

"I apologize, please forgive me, friend Naga, for my outburst," Starfire said as she released him.

"It's okay," Naga reassured the alien princess as he put on his trench coat.

* * *

Since the warehouse incident, the Titans had been trying to figure out a schedule where they could all keep an eye on Naga.

Robin would watch him on Monday, Beast Boy on Tuesday, Starfire on Wednesday, Cyborg on Thursday, and Raven on Friday. It was decided that on Saturday and Sunday, whoever woke up last had to keep an eye on him.

Along with just making sure Naga stayed out of trouble, and seceretly evaluating him, the teenage heroes were trying to find out more about him, his powers, and his past, if he had one.

* * *

**Monday**

When Robin came into the living room, he found everyone at their usual seats at the breakfast table, with their usual breakfasts, with Naga sitting at one end of the table, with nothing but a peanutbutter sandwich and some strawberry juice.

Even if you weren't an empath like Raven, you could tell that the aura around the six teenagers was of extreme unease and pressure. Naga remained focused on his sandwich, even though he knew that all eyes were fixated on him. "Uh, Naga I'm just gonna say it; how do you get your hair like that?" Beast Boy, asked referring to Naga's afro. (Again if you're confused read the previous chapter). "It's always like this," Naga replied in a deadpan voice. "Sure," Cyborg sarcastically replied. All Naga did was roll his eyes at the remark.

Eventually everyone had left to do their own things: Starfire had dragged Raven off to "the mall of shopping," Cyborg went to an auto show downtown, with Bumblebee, and Beast Boy was at a new vegan-restaurant that just opened up. The only ones still in the Tower were Naga and Robin. Robin was busy trying to find something about Naga he may have overlooked, while Naga single-mindedly played Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden.

At about 1:53 pm, Raven and Starfire came home. What Robin saw when he got to the living room almost made him fall over himself. Somehow Starfire was able to persuade Raven to get make-overs, don't ask me how, but let's just say that the make-up wasn't an improvement, especially because most of it was pink, which was super noticable, even with her hood up, and while Robin was trying not to end up rolling on the ground laughing, Raven shot him one of those looks that said, "so much as grin, and I'm sending you to my dad."

Raven quickly floated to a bathroom to get the monster make-up off while Starfire sat with Robin, and they chastely kissed, while Naga slept soundly on the couch in his coat. Soon, Raven came in from her cleansing, to see the two love birds tending to their nest.

"If this is going to be a regular thing with you two, please do it somewhere none of us can just walk in on it," Raven mocked. Robin and Starfire quickly jumped away from each other and blushed uncontrollably with embarrasment. "Don't you guys think that it's a bit risky making out when someone is just a few feet away," referring to the still sleeping Naga.

"Friend Raven, there are some aspects of Earthly culture I will never understand, and one of them is the frowning upon of two people who are clearly in love and of them expressing it in an uh, please tell me if I use this term correctly, chaste manner, because I feel that this kind of behavior should be considered acceptable," Starfire told her best female friend.

"First of all Starfire, yes you are using 'chaste' in the correct context, and second people on Earth often see most forms of loving expression in public, even like what you were doing, as being rather, well, low-class," Raven said, trying to find a term that would not upset her sensitive, albeit somewhat naïve, extraterrestrial friend.

"Oh thank you friend, from now on me and Robin will only express our love in small amounts in public," Starfire said as she held Raven in one of her signature Tamaranien bearhugs.

"So Raven, how did Starfire get you to do make-overs," Robin teased as payback for abruptly interrupting them.

"Don't start boy blunder, those people were lucky I didn't send them into a void, which I was close to doing," Raven snapped, while making some herbal tea to calm herself down. _Mental Note: destroy all malls later_ Raven thought to herself, while she grabbed one of her books.

About thirteen minutes later Beast Boy came home looking very pissed off, which for the changeling is not normal. Trudging over to the refrigerator, he grabbed a huge plate of tofu, sat on the floor in front of the TV, and furiously flipped through the channels.

"What's up?" Raven asked without looking up from her book, knowing that the explanation would come even if she hadn't asked.

"Some dude at the arcade beat my ass at every game," the green teen grumbled.

"Do not feel bad friend, I am sure you fought valiantly," Starfire said, trying to cheer up her little brother. After a while Beast Boy had cooled down and Naga eventually woke up.

When Naga got up, everyone immediately recoiled from him.

"What?" Naga asked not knowing what was the matter.

"Naga, how can we put this politely," Robin said trying to think of a nice way to say it.

"You stink, literally," Raven bluntly stated. The other three, while covering, their noses nodded in agreement.

"Whatever," Naga said as he went to get a shower and wash his clothes.

An hour later Cyborg came home with Bumblebee in tow. When she got comfortable on the couch, they told her about everything that had happened since Naga's attack.

"So where is he anyway," she asked wanting to meet the potential Titan. As if on cue, Naga had come in, still a little damp from his shower, with now clean clothes.

"Who's this?" he asked curious about the girl with wings on her back.

"Naga this is Bumblebee, the leader of Titans East," Robin told him.

"Good to meet you Naga," Bumblebee said as she extended her hand for him to shake. However, Naga's curly hair was starting to tickle his saddistic brain. As he shaked Bee's hand he sent electrical shocks all over her until smoke was coming out of her ears. Naga immediately started letting out all the laughter he could as Bumblebee slowly, and somewhat haphazardly, got to her feet.

"What was that all about?" the human/bee hybrid dumbfoundedly asked.

"That was the living joy buzzer," Naga said while still trying to control his laughter. Beast Boy, someone who always had to appreciate a good joke, said "you do have to admit it was pretty funny." Soon everyone else was glaring at Naga. Feeling compelled to make some sort of compensation Naga said, "I tell ya' what. I'll let you chase after me and I'll even give you a five second head start. Right here." Naga told her.

"One," he started counting.

Soon Bumblebee was flying at Naga with her hands on the B shaped stingers on her belt.

"Two," Naga continued; but as soon as Bee got to him, he jumped completely out of her field of vision, and while in the air said "Three." As soon as Bee got her composure and Naga touched the floor he said "four-five," and flew out the door, on a personal tornado.

"So what do you think Bee," Cyborg asked nervously.

"If you can get me to him, so I can give him a piece of my mind, I might give a good review," she said.

The reason Cyborg brought Bumblebee to the Tower was for more than just romance. As a branch group Titan leader she was required to observe potential heroes that would join a team.

"Seriously Bee," Cyborg said.

"He is powerful, and from what you've told me, he can do more than just hold his own in a fight, but also if what he did to Angel is anything like you said, he may be something of a liability," she stated.

Eventually Bumblebee flew back to Steel City, and Naga came out from hiding in the basement.

* * *

**Tuesday**

Everyone in the T-shaped fortress had left to do their own things, and to avoid the tension that seemed to follow Naga wherever he went. Everyone except for a specific green changeling. It was Beast Boy's day to keep an eye on Naga. The day seemed to be uneventful at first; Naga didn't seem like the type to get into a conversation, and any questions that were directed toward him were all answered with just "no."

Eventually Beast Boy suggested playing some video games.

Secretly Naga was a dedicated veteran gamer and would do anything it took to win a game, but he wasn't going to reveal it so easily, so he solemnly went with the suggestion.

To Beast Boy's surprise, Naga proved to be a master at Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, especially when using Deadpool, Dante, and Dormammu, which he reffered to "3 D-struction" (try and find out why ;) ).

Unfortunately, however, the games soon became boring, so Naga grabbed the newspaper, and started looking through for something interesting. Soon he came on something that immediately got his attention.

In bold, capital words the title said "REPTILE EXPO. Lovers of anything scaly and strange welcome to the show of a lifetime at the Jump City Convention Center ."

When Naga showed it to Beast Boy, the changeling nearly jumped out of his green skin.

"Dude we should totally go," Beast Boy yelled.

Naga also had a secret love of anything reptile.

**_Jump City Convention_ Center**

The Reptile Expo at the Jump City Convention Center was even more fun than the paper had led to believe.

Beast Boy was changing from lizard to snake to turtle, and even crocodile and komodo dragon, while Naga spent most of his time handling various assortments of snakes. Since Naga's animal affinity was with snakes, he could easily handle the serpents without having to worry about his own safety. Beast Boy soon learned that although Naga couldn't speak to snakes, like how he could understand the speech of the animals he becomes, Naga could understand the feelings and emotions of the serpents.

"Snakes and I have a lot in common: we are both misunderstood, and feared because we are different." Naga said

"Is that why you stayed with us? Because we were different like you," Beast Boy asked; thinking that he was finally getting some answers out of the enigma.

Before Naga could answer, however, they heard a huge explosion from outside and were put into hero mode.

Outside they saw the familiar form of Adonis' red suit made of car parts, robbing a jewelry store.

While still not making themselves noticed, Beast Boy's communicator rang and the faces of the other four Titans appeared on the screen.

"Beast Boy what's going on," Robin asked.

"It's just that dumbass Adonis; don't worry guys, me and Naga can handle this loser," he reassured his teammates.

Closing the the communicator, Beast Boy and Naga jumped in front of the scarlet mech as he made his way out of the store.

"Well if it isn't the green bean, who's your loser friend," Adonis said.

"I'm the one who put Angel in physical therapy, idiot," Naga shot back.

"Please you can't take on the might of Adonis," the lanky teen said from inside his battle suit.

"Naga I think you can handle this on your own," Beast Boy said.

Soon Adonis was throwing chunks of debris at Naga, who either avoided them, stopped them with air, or just blasted them with lightning and/or fire. Naga could easily see the look of fear growing on the arrogant villains face, and then went onto the offensive.

Flying behind Adonis, Naga tore chunks of his armor off, revealing the armor's circuitry. With a single burst of lightning, Naga shorted out the suit's systems, turning Adonis into nothing but a panicking, swearing, living statue.

_**Titans**** Tower**_

When each Titan heard about the resurface of Adonis, they all went back to the Tower, waiting for the grass stain and the trainee.

When the monitor alerted the four to the missing two's presence, they were suprised to see the two unharmed.

In fact, not only were they not hurt, but Beast Boy was laughing his throat out, while Naga had his hands folded behind his head, with a smug grin on his face.

"Beast Boy did you see the look on Adonis' face when the police had to take him out of his suit to take him to jail?" Naga asked the changeling.

"Yes, and I got a picture of it with my communicator. This is definitely going on the Internet," Beast Boy said as he looked at the picture of a humiliated Adonis.

"I take it that things went well?" Robin asked

"Was there ever any doubt," Naga replied, which caused him to start laughing himself.

"I believe that friends Beast Boy and Naga are trying to say yes," Starfire said.

"Ok, but don't get complacent kid, that was one of the easy villains, there are a ones a lot stronger than Adonis out there, so always be on your toes," the blue robed empath toned in.

"I'll remember that," Naga said, noticing the small vein that started forming on the side of Raven's head.

_Thanks a lot Beast Boy, you've made another you _Raven thought.

"Cy do you think you can get any footage of the fight on screen? You guys gotta see how this really went down," Beast Boy told his teammates.

"I'll try," Cyborg answered.

Soon Cyborg was able to get a video taken by a security camera in the area.

The monitor then blarred with the video of Naga shutting down Adonis' suit, and of Adonis himself throwing out every swear that was ever thought of. At one point, Robin had to cover Starfire's ears so she wouldn't be tempted to use any of these words in public, or at all.

After the brief video ended, Cyborg and Beast Boy were both on their backs laughing uncontrollably.

"Ya' gotta admit, that is pretty funny," The cybernetic giant said as he got off the floor.

"I wish to congratulate our friend with a traditional Tamaranian folksong," Starfire announced.

Naga, who had never heard Starfire sing, was surprised to see all of the other Titans dogpile on the extraterrestrial.

"Do I wanna know what this is about?" Naga nervously asked.

"Lets just say that if we let Starfire sing, you'll need ear replacement surgery," Raven told him.

"Thanks for the heads up," Naga replied

* * *

As soon as Naga was asleep and the other five went into the halls, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven wanted to know anything that Beast Boy might have found out.

"All I found out was that he likes reptiles and that he's good at video games. Wait I remember something else; he's sort of an empath, like Raven, but only with snake's, and that he feels comfortable with us because we're different like him," Beast Boy told his team.

"Well it's not much but it's something." Robin said.

"Oh and no one let him know that were collecting this information, if he finds out, he could lose faith in us and become a dangerous enemy," Batman's former apprentice added.

* * *

**Wednesday**

At around 6:30 am, Naga woke up to the sound of the TV on some show called "World of Fungus," and the perky redheaded alien girl known as Starfire, sitting on the other end of the circular sofa.

Starfire greeted Naga with a warm smile and said, "friend I hope you slept well. You have just woken up to enjoy my favorite program of the television, World of Fungus, today we are watching about the foot of athletes."

It took Naga a few minutes to get the sleep from his mind and to register that Starfire meant say athlete's foot.

"Starfire it's not even seven o'clock," Naga complained, still partly asleep.

"Yes, I wanted to get up as soon as possible for the fun day of activities I have planned for my new friend," Starfire said, oblivious that he was complaining about her getting him up so early.

"Don't you have someone else to hang out with, what about, what's her name, Raven," Naga said as he tried to get back to sleep before he became too awake.

"Friend Raven has her own plans," Starfire told him. Technically it wasn't lying; Raven did have her own plans, but it was only because today was Starfire's day in Naga's trial week to watch him.

"Fine, what do you have planned?" Naga asked, now too awake to get back to sleep.

"First I want to introduce you to one of my very best friends in the world, follow me," Starfire said as she literally dragged him down the hallway.

As soon as they came to her room, she had him close his eyes and wait outside. When she came out she said "you may open your eyes now."

When Naga opened his eyes, he immediately jumped up and was hanging upside down on the ceiling like a cat.

Cradled in Starfire's arms was some sort worm/caterpillar thing, that was as large as an Italian hoagie.

"What is that?" Naga asked in fear.

"This is Silkie, he is my bumgorf, and I am his k'norfka, or as you would say, his nanny," Starfire answered while tickling the little maggot.

Her explanation did not seem to get Naga to come down.

_Perhaps he needs more information on Silkie,_ Starfire thought

"Silkie was once a mutant moth created by our enemy Killer Moth, but now he is our pet," she explained.

It seemed to work as Naga slowly came down, while eyeing the creature with some sort of contempt.

"What is the matter, you look at Silkie like a Zarnic looks at a Glorg," Starfire said.

"Nothing, it's just that I wasn't expecting to see something like Silkie in my lifetime," Naga said covering up his secret fear of insects and arachnids.

"Then let us begin our day at the mall of shopping," Starfire said, while Naga subtly made a gesture of blowing his brains out.

The day at the mall was not exactly as Starfire had anticipated. She started in the clothes department, hoping that he was more willing than Raven to try new things. He wasn't. Next she had hoped that some ice cream, or, as she put it "frozen lactation of earthly bovine," would make him smile; but as soon as he got the ice cream, he burned it into non-existance. To make matters worse, as they left the ice cream store, he slipped on some kid's spilt ice cream, and fell flat on his back, which caused almost everyone in the shop to break out in laughter, which made him extremely embarrassed. While she had tried to make the day as fun as possible, Naga just remained as dismal as Raven, if not more. The true reason behind his silence was because he felt that everyone in the mall was watching him, which was true.

_They fear the power that you hold, they only know to shun those who are stronger than them,_ Inferno told him.

_Then why do they accept the Titans,_ Marina challenged.

_They only accept them because they save these humans worthless hides on a daily bases,_ Inferno spat back.

_What do you say Frostbite?_ Marina asked the werewolf.

_Please don't drag me into this,_ Frostbite quietly said.

At the sound of the arguing, Naga quickly grabbed the side of his head and said through thought, _Don't start fighting you guys, you could blow our whole cover._

When Starfire saw Naga grab his head she asked, "Naga what is wrong with your head?"

Trying to think up a decent truth/lie, Naga told the alien, "it's just a headache, that's all."

Feeling that Naga needed the "pick me up," Starfire dragged him over to the mall's Starbucks. Naga decided to get a cappuccino, to be polite; in truth, coffee was not exactly something he was willing to try. When he took a sip, he found that it was bitter cold.

"Is there something wrong with your beverage," Starfire said as she pulled away from her mustard bottle.

"This is cold," Naga said as he used fire from his fingers to heat up his drink.

"Naga, I've been curious; how do you create fire? There has to be a reason," Starfire asked, hopeful to get some answers out of him.

_Don't tell her, it wouldn't be a secret otherwise, hahaha,_ Airheart chuckled.

_Stay out of this Airheart, this is our problem,_ Inferno shouted.

"I'll tell you, if you tell me how your powers function," Naga bargained.

"I believe what you are doing is what Raven referred to as the quid pro quo, very well. My powers are fueled by solar energy that I take in and store in my body, that is how my people can fly and produce starbolts, but my people must feel emotions to really use our abilities. Unbridled joy for flight; boundless confidence to access our strength; and righteous fury to create starbolts. And now for your explanation."

"The way I produce fire is complicated. You see, I'm able to manipulate the areas around me , but only the areas around me, namely my hands, feet, and even inside of me. I can't make fire in an area too far away. I can do this on any spot on me, like make fire from my knee, but it's much easier with my limbs."

"And how did this ability become a part of you?" Starfire questioned.

_Now look what you've done!_ Inferno scolded.

"Starfire that's something I'd like to keep to myself for now," Naga told her.

Feeling that she had gotten enough information about Naga, she decided to drop the subject and to just enjoy the mall and its wonders.

Unfortunately the mall continued to do little to brighten Naga's spirit, so Starfire decided to take him to the carnival pier.

As they flew over the site of her mistaken arrest, she noticed a small gleam of mischief in Naga's blood red eyes.

"Naga, I have seen the look you have on your face in the faces of those who plan trouble, what are you thinking of doing?" Starfire firmly questioned.

"Nothing that will harm anyone, I'm just practicing my water manipulation." With these words Naga stopped flying and let himself drop to the water like a meteor.

_Raise the Hydra?_ Airheart eagerly asked.

_Raise the Hydra,_ Naga confirmed.

Starfire soon saw what Naga planned on doing.

Out of the bay rose five serpentine heads, formed out of sea water. With her alien eyes Starfire could see Naga inside the gargantua, controlling the heads using arm gestures. People were running in all different directions from the montrous heads, even though the construct was not being used to hurt anyone, mainly to frighten them. At one point, he even made one head race alongside a rollercoaster.

_Oh this is just to good, humans are so pathetic, hahahahahahahahahaha!_ Airheart said with uncontrollable laughter.

_For once I agree with you Airheart,_ concured Inferno.

_You two are such children,_ Marina scolded.

Starfire frowned in disappointment that Naga would do something so childish, even if he did not mean harm. However, she saw that there were children who were not afraid and even some that ran up to the creature, despite their parents forbidding them not to; Naga also picked up on this and knew that these were the kinds of kids that were too stupid to understand the concept of fear. Knowing that he could not shake the children away he decided to put on a show. Clearing a hole through each head's throat, Naga sent jets of fire going into the air, creating a dazzling fire display that caught the attention of anyone and everyone in the area.

Deciding that enough was enough, Naga dropped the water construct and swam away from the pier and out to the sea.

When Starfire flew up to the water's surface, Naga came out of the water from the waist up.

"Why did you terrorize those people?" Starfire firmly asked, crossing her arms, trying to believe that this was the same Naga who had barely said a word at the mall.

"Let's just say, I have a rather twisted sense of humor, hmmhmmhmm," he said as he unsettlingly chuckled to himself.

"I am afraid that I do not approve of your kind of 'fun',"

_She has good head on her shoulders,_ Marina nagged.

Naga simply rolled his eyes at both Starfire and Marina.

"Naga, I have noticed that you have a distaste of being around humans, you always look at them as if they were another species," Starfire told him.

"Starfire, you know how powerful I am. The humans fear that which is stronger, and they only accept you and the others because you save their lives on a daily basis," Naga said, echoing Inferno's words.

"Please friend, you must give people a chance to come to accept you," Starfire stated.

"Do you think that things wouldn't be different if you and the others hadn't stopped the Gordanian invasion! Do you think that people would accept a half-robot, or a green shapeshifter, I already know that the thought of Raven being accepted by people is out of the question!" Naga stated, now standing on top of the water's surface, his fangs formed in a snarl.

At this point, Starfire was starting to actually take in these words, and even considered the possibility of Naga being right. From what she had heard about Martian Manhunter, from Robin, is that his presence was met with opposition at first, and that the Titans East was met with criticism when they were filling in for her and the others when they were fighting the Brotherhood of Evil.

Afterwards, Naga turned around and ran back to the Tower, with Starfire following, thinking over his words.

"It may be hard accept, but sometimes the truth must come out," Naga said without turning around.

When they both got back to the island, Naga opted to stay outside to "just be alone."

Starfire floated into the living room to find the others on the couch with a frozen image of the hydra Naga had created.

"First thing's first, did you get any information about Naga?" Robin asked.

Starfire had told them about everything that had happened from the moment that Naga had awaken, up to the moment that he made the multiheaded water serpent.

"Well we learned something about his powers, did you learn anything else?" Raven asked.

Starfire then told them his views of humans, and how he believed that they (the Titans) were just in the right place at the right time.

When she got to the part of what he said about Raven, she noticed a small vein appear in the empath's forehead.

After hearing about Naga's statement, each hero was contemplating the seemingly strong possibility that he might be right.

Before they met each other, they were just viewed as freaks of nature and abominations; some people even called them "the forsaken." Until that fateful day when Starfire showed up, followed by the Goradanians.

Since then they were reffered to as "the Jewels of Jump."

But what if none of that had happened.

Cyborg would still be living in shame; Beast Boy would always be laughed at because he was green; Robin would grow as emotionless as his mentor; Starfire would still be a hostage; and Raven would end up fulfilling the prophecy, allowing Trigon to destroy the world, not to mention killing herself.

"Let us not dwell on these feelings, they are of what could have happened, but hasn't. Let us go to our rooms and forget the events of today," Starfire said after getting the courage to speak up.

They all nodded in agreement, and went to their rooms.

* * *

**Thursday**

To make a long story short, Naga and Cyborg had spent the entire morning in a gamestation robot video game war, with Beast Boy as commentator. The goal for the day was to play a total of 100 games, and whoever won at least 51 or more games would be crowned super video game champion of the wrold.

"Okay people, with each gaming gladiator tied at 50 wins each we now go into SUDDEN DEATH; the warrior that wins this match shall be, SUPER VIDEO GAME CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!" Beast Boy announced to Robin and Starfire. (Raven had retreated to her room before the contest had even started).

_Okay, I can't lose, this is my game,_ Cyborg thought, trying to psych himself up.

"Okay, contestants are you ready? Cyborg?"

"Booyah," was all Cyborg said.

"Naga?"

Naga didn't speak, but instead grinned, revealing his serpentine fangs.

"Okay. Three...Two...One...FIGHT!"

Cyborg opened up with a barrage of punches and kicks, even landing a piledriver into the combo, sending Naga's character's health to below 60%.

"What do ya' say now?" Cyborg mocked, feeling that he was going to win.

"This," Naga answered, smashing the buttons on his controller with inhuman speed, unleashing every combo move possible. Immediately putting Cyborg's health in the red zone.

In a last ditch effort, Cyborg planned to use his beam attack to try and destroy Naga, but he's too slow and Naga grabs Cyborg's character, and knees him were the sun don't shine.

Cyborg's blue robot is left on the ground in tears while Naga's is doing a victory pose, much like their respective controller.

"And Naga is the SUPER VIDEO GAME CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!" Beast Boy announced, while Starfire was congratulating Naga and comforting Cyborg at the same time.

**Friday**

To say that Raven wasn't excited about having to watch Naga was a complete understatement. As soon as she and him were both awake, everyone else had cleared out, even if breakfast wasn't finished, not wanting to be caught up in a fight that might possibly ensue.

Most of the time Naga just kept sitting in front of a bucket of water, trying to make small water constructs with only his mind, while without moving his arms or legs. Unfortunately the mental strain was much stronger than he had anticipated, and whatever he made only lasted at least a minute, if he was lucky.

After about ten minutes of continuous headaches, he failed to make a water cube stand. This caused him enough aggrivation, that he threw the bucket across the room.

"Are you going to get that or what," Raven said from behind her book.

Naga reluctantly pulled up the water that mocked his inability, and walked over to the sink to throw it out. Grabbing the remote, Naga started flipping through channels, trying to find something that could take his mind off of practice. After about ten minutes of channel hopping he came to a station called GBS, with something called the "G. Gordon Godfrey Show," with some ranting guy.

Normally Naga wouldn't be interested in a show like this, but before he could switch, a picture of him robbing the bank came up.

"So, the Teen Titans have a new member, that's great, and this picture just screams that he can be trusted. Well if you ask me this kid isn't fit to do a nighttime patrol, let alone hold our lives in hand his hand..." The show was abruptly ended when Naga wedged the remote into the TV, with flames coming off of it.

"You know that you'll have to explain that to the others," Raven sarcastically said.

"C'mon, what do ya' think I was going to do?" Naga said.

"Change the channel," Raven replied.

"Raven, how do you stay calm when these pathetic excuses for sentient lifeforms, criticize you?" Naga questioned.

_I think I like this kid,_ Rage said.

_He's kind of a downer,_ Happy chimed in.

_Even he knows that we're strange__,_ Timid said, reffering to what Naga had told Starfire the other day.

"I meditate to control my anger," she answered.

"Can you teach me?" Naga asked, hoping that this could help him develop his own powers.

"Fine," Raven answered, feeling that this could be a way to get answers.

They soon found out that Naga's meditation skills left a lot to be desired. He could never sit still and always got impatient at the lack of activity.

_He's hopeless,_ commented Rude.

_From what we've observed, it seems he requires something to be in constant motion to stay focused, interesting,_ Knowledge said.

"This is pointless, I'll never get this crap!" Naga stated after his fifth failed attempt to attain inner peace.

"Just to be honest, I think Beast Boy could get this sooner than you could, no offense," Raven said.

"None taken," replied the crimson eyed teen.

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. You don't seem to be the kind of person to sit still and do nothing, maybe a fight would be more beneficial."

"If I don't have to stay in one spot, I'll try anything."

Fortunately for them Robin and Starfire had returned from their date, and agreed to play referee and participant respectively, with only three rules: no killing, no maiming, and whoever gets knocked out is out.

Sparring turned out to be much more beneficial and Naga soon started forming snakes from stone and used them as extra arms to try and grab the Tameranean and the demoness, but they just blasted them apart.

Naga then decided to test out a little theory he had about his powers.

Creating scimitars out of ice, he charged toward Raven, in an attempt to break down her obsidian energy shields.

This however, was just a trick to test his theory.

Ducking behind Raven, and pulling back her hood, he placed the electrified tips of his fingers into the spot where the bottom of the head meets the base of the spine, and pulled back forming an electric cord.

Raven soon found herself unable to move, or even stay in the air on her own power.

Naga's theory was rather simple. After seeing how Kankuro used chakra cords on Crow and Black Ant from Naruto, Naga theorized he could do the same with electricity. And he was right.

However, he couldn't force Raven to form her black energy, as that required her own power to do, so he simply used her as a living shield against Starfire.

"TIME OUT!" Robin shouted, which caused Naga to release Raven.

"What's the matter," Naga smugly asked, while casually floating down to Titan leader.

"What was that?" Robin asked in annoyance.

"What? I simply took control of Raven's central nervous system, effectively turning her into my puppet," he stated matter-of-factly, but with a devious grin on his face.

"From now on Naga you should only use that if it's absolutely necessary, and only on criminals," Robin ordered.

Naga just rolled his eyes, and floated into the Tower.

With a sigh of exasperation Robin went into his room, turned on the computer monitor, and was greeted by the faces of the seven founding members of the Justice League: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern: John Stewart, Flash, and Hawkgirl.

"Hello Robin, it's been a while," Batman said in his own monotne.

"Yeah, did you get the information I sent you?"

"Yes and we've been watching Naga's 'interactions' with your group."

"What d'you think?"

"He's certaintly, unique," Wonder Woman said.

"Have you gotten any background information? Any clues to his past?" The Kryptonian asked.

"Unfortunately no, he seems to keep that under lock and key."

"I have been searching through intergalactic species records, like you requested, and there's no listings of him or anyone like him anywhere, so it's safe to assume that he's always been on Earth," Martian Manhunter said.

"Not to be the devil's advocate, but don't his powers unnerve anyone?" Hawkgirl said.

"Don't listen to Shayera, snakes just freak her out," Flash jokingly said.

"Seriously, you saw the video of what he did to that Angel girl, and what we just saw in his match against the empath."

Soon, however, the Tower's alarm began to flash, filling the T-shaped building with red light.

"Sorry got go," Robin said turning off the computer.

**_Downtown Jump_ _City_**

Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Naga meet up with Beast Boy and Cyborg, to find a myriad of some of their greatest enemies, including: Johnny Rancid in his demonic form, Killer Moth, Kitten and Fang, Plasmus, and Cinderblock.

"Cyborg and Starfire, you take on Cinderblock and Plasmus, me and Beast Boy will stop Rancid and Killer Moth, and Raven and Naga, you two will bring down Kitten and Fang! Teen Titans Go!" Robin yelled, not giving Naga a chance to explain his arachnophobia.

Starfire threw Cyborg from the air, sending him crashing into the stone monster, while she launched a barrage of starbolts at the reject Blob. Beast Boy managed to shapeshift into one of the killer moths, essentially fighting fire with fire, with Robin racing through the air on his own motor cycle, chasing after the demon powered Rancid. Naga and Raven were having difficulties of their own; Raven was trying to focus on the multiple moths that Killer Moth had bioengineered, and Naga was mainly distracted by the spider headed villain that was able to sense the hero's fear, and decided to stay in close range so as to throw the snake empath into unnease. Fang even stuck Naga to the wall with his "super loogies," as Beast Boy reffered to them, and forced Naga to look into his many eyes, paralyzing him without actually paralyzing him.

"What's the matter, afraid of the spider!" Fang stated, as he stabbed the building Naga was connected to, with his legs.

Using his hatred of arachnids to fuel his actions, Naga unleashed his primal side and burned the goop away, and sent a multitude of fireballs at Fang.

Screaching at the top of his lungs, Naga flew at Fang and used his ice scimitars to cut of his rear spider legs, while smiling maliciously.

"Let's see what you fear," Naga said in a deep voice that was unlike his own.

"No one hurts Fang! You'll pay for that!" Kitten screamed as she flew down on her personal moth.

"That'll do perfectly!"

When Kitten was about to attack with her electro-whip when, as if possessed, her moth stopped in mid-air and, as if grabbed by an invisible hand, and was forced into the ground, with her on it.

"Kitten!" Fang screamed in horror at the thought of her ceasing to exist. He may have been a villain, but he really did care for his girlfriend. Which is why he was relieved to see her appear with just a few bruises. But when he tried to crawl on his last two spider legs, he was suddenly stopped, along with Kitten, by an unseen force, which caused everyone, heroes and villains alike, to turn towards them. They were then turned towards Naga, whose pupils had gotten so small that it seemed his eyes were made of rubies. He made a simple arm gesture that caused the couple's limbs to contort into positions that a human's limbs are not suppost to be in, causing them unbearable agony.

After Naga had gotten as much entertainment as he could out of the "really bad couple," he set his sights on Johnny Rancid, who tried to fly his bike as far away as possible.

Unfortunately for Rancid, Naga was faster and immediately caught and set the demon bike on fire.

Rancid wasn't sure of what he should do: jump off of his bike and perhaps fall to his death, or face the chance of death at the hands of the apparently insane child.

Before he could make a decision, Naga grabbed him by the neck in a death grip, lifted him off his bike, and brought him crashing into the ground, head first, putting him on the verge of death.

Kneeling over the downed villain, Naga whispered, "you are only alive because I let you live."

At this point even Cinderblock and Plasmus were staring in terror, and Killer Moth was trying to escape with his daughter and her boyfriend.

"You won't be getting away that easy!" Naga screamed.

"Naga stop!" Robin commanded.

As the five heroes came up to Naga, they noticed something odd.

Something was growing on him, literally.

It was pitch black and it was growing across his body.

It was even growing across his clothes, turning them the same shade as his skin was becomming.

Now, the fun was really going to start.

* * *

Author's Note: Hey

Just so you know, I made this chapter extra long to hold you over.

Please review. Thank you.


	4. Secrets Revealed

**New Guy Naga**

**READ THE DISCLAIMER BEFORE YOU READ THE STORY!**

Disclaimer: Because my character Naga is not from any of the DC Universe Comics, I'm using some completely original characters so if one of you readers happens to have the name of one of my characters, just know I thought of them completely at random, I'm not stealing your names, OK :). Thank you for your time.

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Secrets Revealed**_

The Titans watched as the villains were fleeing in terror from Naga, who was clearly tapping into some sort of hidden, secret power.

When Naga's skin and clothes were completely engulfed in the inky black, skin tight mass. He was then surrounded by intense, blue flames, but they could still see throught it to what was happening to their friend.

Naga's body was altering. His hair was receding; a tail grew from his back; his eyes were turning into orbs that looked like large spheres of onyx; his fingers went from four to two and gained claws; then in a few seconds, Naga turned into a creature, that to the Titans, looked like a cross between a velociraptor and a human.

The strange monster looked at them, and while coming out of the fire, and in a voice that was a mix of Naga's and what was presumably the creature's voice, said "say hello to INFERNO!"

Naga, as Inferno, then set his sights on the fleeing Killer Moth.

Using his feet as rockets, like in Naga's first encounter with the Titans, Inferno caught up to Killer Moth.

When Killer Moth saw his daughter's torturer coming towards him, he sent his moth into erratic flight patterns, trying to shake the little monster off.

Unfortunately, Inferno had sunk his claws into the giant mount.

Inferno then decided to kill four birds with one stone.

Sinking his fangs into the giant moth, Inferno unleashed a stream of molten magma, burning away the moths life, and sending all of them down to the ground, only for Killer Moth to escape on his own wings, while carrying Kitten and Fang.

Powered by a rage that only the most savage of beasts would have, Inferno continued to purse the trio.

Unfortunately his path of death was interrupted, by the Titans.

"Naga, you have to gain control of whatever this thing is. You have to fight it!" Raven said, knowing what it is like to be under the control of some dark influence.

The creature, however, only answered with "I'm sorry, Naga is unable to take your call right now. Please leave a message after the sound of me putting you in the pits of hell!"

And with that the beast lunged at the Titans, sending fire in each direction.

"Raven try and get into that thing's mind, and try to get Naga back!" Robin said, while dodging a column of fire that the monster had sent his way.

Following her leader's orders, Raven went on top of a rooftop to get a clear place to think.

Uttering her three word spell with all of the strength that she could summon, Raven sent her soul self straight at the creature that was once Naga.

The astral projection landed its mark, causing Inferno to stop, and turning his black orb eyes violet.

**_Naga's Mind_**

This time when Raven looked into his mind there was not as much cloud cover as there was before, but Raven found herself standing in a big empty room, the crystal door with the snake imprint did not stand where it did last time.

She heard something coming from a corner and ran to it, hoping that she could find a way to restore Naga's sanity. When she found the source of the sound, she immediately wished that she had gone another way.

The image that she saw was of three people, a caucasian man, a woman who looked to be of middle eastern descent, and a young girl that seemed to be mixed race, repeatedly being shot and killed by men in U.S. military uniforms.

She saw amongst the nightmarish scene, Naga being forced to watch the whole thing screaming his heart out, hoping, praying, for everything to just stop.

Raven then saw the same transformation process that he had just gone under, turning him into Inferno.

The person Raven assumed to be the general had his men point their guns at the creature, and said "open fire,"

Their efforts were in vain, however, as Inferno quickly decapitated the soldiers and escaped, the general escaped, however.

"NO NO NO NO!"

Raven turned around to see Naga going from human to Inferno and back.

_**Jump City**_

When Raven pulled out of Naga's mind and back into her own body, she saw Naga in his true human form, laying in the fetal position, crying and saying, "please make it stop."

The Titans gathered around the broken child.

As a precautionary measure Cyborg shot a tranquilizer dart into Naga's left shoulder, quickly rendering him unconscious.

They took Naga's unconscious form to the Tower and placed him in the same maximum security holding cell that he had been put into the first time he stayed there.

"You guys keep an eye on him, I'm expecting a call any minute," Robin told his teammates.

Robin ran into his room, turned on the computer monitor, and met the faces of the Justice League.

"You have something to tell us," Batman stated, rather than questioned.

"You just saw that whole thing, didn't you?" Robin nervously asked.

"Yes, did you know that your new member could do, _this_?" Wonder Woman asked, pulling up a video of Naga's transformation.

"Honestly, neither me or any of my teammates new about that," Robin quickly said.

"We believe you Robin, however, we will be coming over there to investigate these matters," Batman told his former protégé.

"Really that's not necessary," Robin nervously said, not wanting his old mentor to be breathing down his neck, but he was too late as the computer monitor had gone completely blank.

"Dude where've you been?" Beast Boy asked his leader.

"Talking with the League, oh and they'll be arriving here any minute," Robin said.

"Great, that's just what we need, the League to be examining our every move" Cyborg sarcastically said.

They were then alerted to a teleporting sound that seemed to be coming from upstairs.

Running into the common room, the Titans saw the founding members of the Justice League standing in the center of the room.

"Hello Robin," Batman said in a monotone that could match Raven's.

"Hey Batman," Robin reluctantly said.

"Please take us to your prisoner," Martian Manhunter politely asked, trying to diffuse the tension between the League and the Titans.

Leading them down to the Maximum holding cells, the younger generation of heroes led their seniors to the cell where they were holding the still subconscious Naga.

"So that's him," Superman said.

"Hard to believe that this kid was that monster that nearly killed that one guy," Hawkgirl commented.

"There's more to him than he seems to let on," Raven chimed in.

All eyes immediately went to the empath.

She told them of what she had seen inside Naga's mind.

"Whoa," was all the Flash was able to say after hearing about the horror movie that seems to be Naga's mind.

"Were you able to gain anymore information Raven?" Martian Manhunter asked the half-demon.

"No, he forced me out before I could find anything, and honestly, after seeing what I just saw, I'm not willing to go back in there," Raven stated.

Soon, either from all the talking between the League and the Titans, or from the tranq dart drug wearing off, or both, Naga was starting to wake up.

"Look who joined us from the dead," Flash joked.

However, his joke was not well met, as Naga had tried to launch himself at the heroes, but was stopped by the energy barrier, still in his primal state of mind.

After about two minutes of him trying in vain to escape he stopped, gaining back his sanity.

"I think we should give Naga time to get some rest, we'll talk to him tomorrow morning," Robin said.

When everyone was out of the room, and the League teleported back to the watch tower, Naga was left alone with his thoughts and his transformations.

_Smooth move hot-head, ya' blew everything,_ said Sub-Terror scolding Inferno. (If you forget Sub-Terror, read Chapter 2: Return).

_Don't start,_ Inferno said.

_Now look who blew cover,_ Marina mocked.

_Shut the HELL UP__ ok!,_ Inferno screamed.

_Will all of you shut it! This is a serious load of shit we've gotten ourselves into,_ Darkvolt screamed.

_So how do we get ourselves out of this crap pile?_ Frostbite asked.

_I think we should just tell the truth about everything,_ Sub-Terror suggested.

_What we should do is break out of here the second after they let us out of this hole,_ Inferno said.

_I'm inclined to agree with Sub-Terror, it'll be easy on all of us if we just tell the truth,_ Naga told them.

_Then it's settled, we come forward about our past,_ Darkvolt said.

* * *

It's Saturday morning and the Titans get up from a restless night, still shaken up by the previous events.

Robin walked in with the morning paper, with a grim look on his face.

The other Titans gathered around their leader staring at the headline.

**"NEW MEMBER OR NEW MONSTER?"**

"We all know about the Titans new initiate, Naga, and from these pictures we already know that he has power."

Pictures below feature Naga forming the Hydra out of sea water, and of him releasing the fire bomb out to sea, and the mushroom cloud it formed.

"But not even the Titans new about this child's ability to turn into this."

Image is of Naga as Inferno.

"Apparently not even the Titans new of this child's transformation powers, which leads to the question: can Naga be trusted to keep the city safe...?"

None of the others could finish the article as Robin had crumpled it up and thrown it in the trash.

"Great, now along with the Justice League looking over our shoulders, we have the media bashing us," Raven coldly stated.

"So what'll the League try and do to Naga?"

"If I know the Batman he'll interrogate him until he wets himself."

They we're brought out of their conversation by the zeta teleportation beams that put the League right in the living room.

"Can't you guys just use the front door," Robin complained. He always found it annoying when the League appeared not only unannounced but also in their house.

All Batman would say was "it's time to get answers."

* * *

When they got down to the holding cells, they found Naga curled up like a snake ready to strike.

"So, who gets him up?" asked Flash.

All of the heroes looked between each other until finally Batman stepped up, and knocked on the frame of the cell, causing Naga to groggily wake up.

"What do you want from me?" Naga asked.

"We want answers, and you're going to give them to us."

Naga's eyes widened, his fangs grew sharper, his voice went deeper, and said "why would we give answers to lowly humans like you."

"That thing he changed into, it must still have an influence on him."

Hawkgirl then stepped up and said, "Incase you haven't noticed, me, J'onn, Superman, and the Tameranean aren't human, so you will answer us," she commanded.

"When I get out of here, I'll rip your wings off, and dip them in your own blood! Just try and make us talk," Naga said meeting everyone at eye level.

After a few spasms, Naga regained control and leaned against the wall, trying to recover from the possession.

"I hate it when they do that," he said under his breath.

Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy took the League into the corner and said, "Batman, I think it would be best if you guys went back to the Watch Tower and we'll tell you what we can find out."

After the League talked amongst themselves, they decided to go with the Titans wishes.

"But we will expect a detailed report of whatever you find out."

And with that, the League zeta beamed back to the watchtower.

"Now I can see why you left Bat-brain in the first place," Beast Boy said.

"Let's just get back to what we were doing," Robin said, not wanting to remember the past.

* * *

The Titans moved Naga out of his cell, while putting power inhibiting bracers on his wrists, and put him into an interrogation room with a single light.

After about 20 minutes of interrogation Naga still hadn't made a single sound. His vision was completely fixated on the table.

They knew he wasn't sleeping with his eyes open because Raven could sense that his conscious mind was still active.

"Dudes, isn't about time that we get something to eat, I'm starving," Beast Boy said after five extra minutes of complete boredom.

"Fine. Where do you want to order."

"How 'bout Chinese, something other than pizza," Raven suggested.

About four minutes after they had ordered, Naga had fallen out of his chair and on the ground, asleep.

* * *

Naga lay unconscious in the small, windowless room, talking with the six beings that lived within him.

"The involuntary possession wasn't much appreciated."

"Agreed, I thought that we were going to come forward with the truth," Marina added.

"_You_ were going to go with the truth, _I_ wasn't."

"I hate loopholes," Frostbite quietly said.

"When the Titans return, we will tell the truth, _all of us_," Darkvolt commanded, directing the last part of his sentence towards Inferno.

"You can explain, I won't."

* * *

About 34 minutes later, the take out arrived.

When the Titans returned to the dingy interrogation room, they put a bowl of Chāshū Ramen (pork ramen) on the table.

The smell of food soon brought Naga out of his sleep.

All he said was, "I don't eat pork," and he pushed the bowl away.

"Great another vegetarian, as if one wasn't enough," Cyborg whined, which earned him an annoyed look from Beast Boy.

"I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't eat any pig products."

Before the Titans could resume their extensive, albeit pointless, efforts in trying to get answers, Raven sensed a seventh presence materializing in the room.

Soon, Naga's hands were tensed, his eyes once again grew wide, but he wasn't freaking out like before.

The Titans readied themselves for whatever they may come into conflict with.

Naga then spoke in a merged voice. Only this voice was calmer, more relaxing and it said "Please calm yourselves, we do not mean any harm, and if you are willing to listen, we will answer you."

"What are you and where do you come from?" Robin questioned; trying to see if the creature would stand by its word.

"I am afraid that your question brings forth complications."

"You said you would answer us."

"Yes, but mere words cannot allow you to fully comprehend our dilemma. To fully understand the complexity of our situation, you must see things through our eyes."

"What do you mean through your eyes?"

"It's quite simple really, you must see Naga's memories."

The five argued whether or not entering Naga's mind was such a good idea.

"It seems like this is the only way to get any answers," Beast Boy said.

"But how do we know that this isn't a trap," Robin stated.

"We do not, but we do not seem to have any other options," Starfire said.

They told Naga that they would go along with his idea, but that there was to be no treachery, to which the possessed child only replied "very well."

* * *

Soon Raven came in with some purple dust from her room, she poured it into the shape of a pentagon with a circle inside of it, and lit multiple candles around the room.

"Everyone, sit at a corner, Naga you sit in the center," she told them.

When every person sat where they were supposed to, the candles went from orange to blue.

Raven spoke her mantra "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos, Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." causing the blue flames of the candles to grow larger.

The Titans minds soon went toward Naga, guided by Raven's soul self, causing their physical bodies to drift into unconsciousness.

Soon they were all inside of Naga's thoughts, causing the candles to go dim.

* * *

_**Naga's Mind**_

The Titans woke up to find themselves lying on an island sitting in the middle of an ocean.

"So this is supposed to be Naga's mind?" Beast Boy asked.

"I guess so," Cyborg said.

"So where are we supposed to go from here?" Robin asked.

"Allow me to show you."

The Titans turned around to see Naga floating above the water, coming towards them.

"Come with me and I shall take you to those who can help me answer your questions."

He made a pathway of stone appear and led the Titans down it.

After what seemed like an eternity of travel, they came to the crystal door with the black snake on it that Raven saw when she first went into his mind.

Naga stopped at the door and said, "Before we go in, I must warn you to never forget where you stand in terms of authority."

And with that Naga opened the crystal door.

The room that the door led to was in the shape of a dome with stone bleachers that rapped around the room, with six floating disks placed around it, and a circular reflecting pool in the middle.

"Guys, you can come out now," he said to no one in particular.

But before any of them could question Naga, Darkvolt; Inferno; Sub-Terror; Frostbite; Marina; and Airheart appeared on the hovering disks. (If you forget what they look like, re-read **Chapter 2: Return**, thank you).

The Titans were taken back by the reality of not just one, but six monsters that lived within Naga.

"Titans, I would like you to meet Darkvolt, Sub-Terror, Frostbite, Marina, and Airheart. You've already met Inferno."

"Uhh... hi," Beast Boy nervously said to the creatures.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," the one that they presumed to be Marina said.

"Hey," Frostbite quietly said.

"Greetings Titans, I am Darkvolt," the black dragon announced.

Sub-Terror jumped down from his platform and extended his giant hand for the Titans to shake.

Then the blue werewolf Frostbite came down.

Cautiously, he slowly examined the Titans by taking in their scents, and staring at their own eyes through his own.

Feeling that there would be no danger he quietly made his way back to his disk.

When the Titans fully took in the presence of these creatures, they gained more questions than they had when they first encountered Naga.

Before any of them could ask anything, the gray falcon Airheart said, "please hold all questions until the end of the presentation," while using his wing to point to the reflecting pool.

The Titans walked over to the cicular water disk.

At first, the only thing they saw was their reflections, but then they saw the planet Earth, or what they thought was the Earth.

The landmasses weren't arranged like how they are now.

"This is the Earth 4 billion years ago." Darkvolt told them.

"How does this have anything to do with you?" Robin asked.

"Foolish human, this has everything to do with us; we are the the planet incarnate, the guardians of the Earth!" Inferno screamed.

"Calm yourself Inferno," Marina said.

"Under our protection, the Earth flourished and was a place of prosperity," Darkvolt said.

"That is until, the day..."

The image in the pool went from Earth to a star system they recognized as the Vega Star System, noticing the planet Tamaran orbiting the sun.

"We assume that the alien is familiar with a race known as the Spider Guild," Sub-Terror said, addressing Starfire.

"Yes, they are a race of alien conquerers and slavers who have had numerous businesses in my home system."

"Yes, they soon found Earth and us; they saw us as 'worthy prey.' Those filthy arachnids then sent their armadas to try and capture us." Inferno said.

The image in the pool then shifted to the six beings fighting off Spider Guild attack ships.

"But while we proved resilient in driving off their attempts, the planet was not as strong. They had completely decimated the landscape across most of Earth," Frostbite said.

"They then saw us as more trouble than we were worth; so they sent down what would be an equivalent to seven times the strength of your hydrogen bombs, to try and destroy us." Airheart chimed in; for once he wasn't laughing.

"They had that kind of technology back then!" Cyborg asked in shock.

"Hahahahahaha, stupid humans; you truly have no idea of what lies out there. And you're supposed to be the dominate life on the planet? Pathetic." Inferno said, trying to make his distain noticeable.

"How did you manage to survive?"

"We were forced to pull together all of our powers, and the strength of the planet, to try and hold off the inevitable destruction; doing so decreased the damage of what would have been the annihilation of life, but we were severely weakened, and on the brink of embracing oblivion."

"But aren't you like immortal or something?" Beast Boy asked.

"We are immortal from age and disease, but not from fatal wounds," Marina told him.

"Without our existence, the forces of the planet would eventually destroy itself; so in a last ditch effort, we sealed ourselves away. Doing this allowed the planet to remain stable, although our existence was not heard from again."

The image in the pool then went to a circular formation in the ground that contained six pillars standing around it.

"Now you know our origin, so now you can leave," Inferno stated.

"Not all of our questions have been answered."

"Like why do you hate humans so much?" Beast Boy asked Inferno.

The fire beast just looked at them with contempt and then just disappeared in a ball of fire.

"Where has he gone to?" Robin asked, fearing that Inferno might take over and destroy their bodies in the real world.

"Don't worry, he won't be going anywhere outside of my mind unless I allow him to," Naga said, finally saying something.

"What's his deal," the cyborganic asked.

"He feels that humans are unfit to inhabit the planet, that's all," Marina said matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Starfire asked, remembering what Naga had told her the other day.

"Through the seal, we were able to see the growth of the Earth, and the 'plague of humans,' as Inferno puts it," Frostbite told them.

"Thanks, but you've only answered half of our questions, how did you come into contact with these..." Robin said, trying to think of a word that wouldn't affend the beings that stood infront of them.

"Monsters," Marina answered, "don't worry we get that a lot."

"That will have to be saved for last." Naga told them.

"Well, what's up with the weird voices?" Beast Boy questioned, referring to the times that Naga seemed to be possessed.

"Hm, sometimes their personalities will rise to the surface. Sometimes they take control, like when you were talking to Inferno, or I can allow it like with Marina."

"But how do you change into them?"

"That's complicated."

Naga paced around the room, trying to find a way to explain.

He then stopped below Darkvolt and lifted up the right side of his shirt. On his right side was an imprint of the same pitch black snake that was on the crystal door they had come through only minutes ago.

"I gained this mark when they merged with me; it expands across my skin, even my clothes, whenever I turn into them. The transformation is voluntary, I allow it to happen, but I still don't have full control over it; I basically act on my id."

"Your wha'?"

"The id is a psychological term for the base instincts of any creature, and the desire to bring pain to the external world through aggression," Naga told them.

The Titans moved over to the other side of the room to discuss the bombshell just dropped on them.

"Honestly, I didn't expect any of this," Raven stated.

"There's still one question he never answered."

Walking back over to Naga they asked, "how did you get your powers?"

"That's not so easy to answer," Naga said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Fine, first I'll show you me before my, _transformation._"

The pool in the center of the room then shifted to an image of Naga with slightly paler skin, and hazel eyes instead of the current ruby red.

"My eyes changed color a few weeks after I got my powers."

When Naga looked in the pool to see his former self, Raven thought she saw a small tear form in his eyes.

Soon the image faded, and the only thing the Titans saw was their own reflections.

Naga walked over to the stone steps and sat down, exhausted from the days events, and not wanting to go into details about his past.

Starfire walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulders and said, "Friend Naga, is it, emotionally hard for you to remember your past?"

Naga just nodded a yes, but didn't say anything.

They all had a feeling of what had happened to his family from what Raven saw in his mind.

"Can you at least tell us your name?" Beast Boy asked.

Naga said, "my name was Omar Masterson, but just call me Naga. I got my powers about six months ago."

"The seal we placed ourselves in was brought up to the surface from the sea floor, by an earthquake, near what you call Alaska." Darkvolt said.

"I was with my family on vacation, my father's name was Abraham, my mother was called Abia, and my sister was named Jenna. I was alone when the seal came up. I got in a boat and rowed out. When I stood in the center, the guardians were freed and placed into me, saying they needed a 'vessel.'"

"We knew that our presence would be met with opposition by the human race, so we decided to hide in plain sight. We also felt that our influence could help to better humanity, and bring the Earth back into the golden age it once knew," Marina added.

"From then on I hid my newfound abilities. Unfortunately the military caught on to what I could do. They tried to pry the information out of me but I wouldn't crack. They decided to show me the penalty for disobedience. The man who questioned me was named General Wade Eiling. From my only encounter with him, he seemed to be on the brink of madness, he ordered his soldiers to fire on my family if I did not comply. The soldiers, even his most trusted lieutenant, tried to talk him out of his plan, they were unwilling to kill the innocent, but eventually Eiling gained control over them and, well you know the rest."

"But you still killed the soldiers anyway," Raven said.

"It was the first time I ever transformed; I acted only on rage; to this day I regret killing those men."

"To cover up his foul affairs, Eiling had every information file of my life deleted, and the memory of me erased from everyone that I had come into contact with, including my relatives. As far as the world knows, I never existed and I was never born."

"Whoa," was all Beast Boy could say.

"From what I've heard Eiling's turned himself into a monster and has gone into hiding," Naga said reffering to Eilings defection from Cadmus and his attack on Several Justice League members.

"Now you know of my past, I will understand if you don't want me to stay."

Soon the Titans felt themselves starting to regain consciousness, causing the candles in the room to relight themselves.

When Robin looked at the clock he saw that it was already midnight.

They put Naga back in his containment cell, and left for the common room to discuss what they would do next.

Robin sat at the computer putting together the report Batman had requested, while everyone else sat on the couch.

"So what do we do with him?" Raven asked.

"Our friend has clearly gone through much strife in life," Starfire said.

"I believe we should offer him a chance to join us," she added.

Each of the others couldn't help but agree with her. The one thing they all had in common was that they were all orphaned.

Robin's parents died at the hands of a mobster; Cyborg lost his mother to the same space blob that was also the reason he gained his cybernetics; Starfire lost her parents to the Gordanians; and Beast Boy's parents died in a boating accident in the jungle.

Raven's mother may have been resurrected along with the rest of Azarath, but there was that time when Raven only saw an imprint of her soul when she tried to stop the prophecy, and having Trigon for a dad was worse than having no dad at all.

* * *

Naga sat in his cell talking with the guardians of the planet.

_You shouldn't have spilled our secrets you fool!_ Inferno scolded

_I've had enough of you Inferno, now hold your tongue, or I shall hold it for you!_ Marina threatened.

Naga rolled his eyes at their constant fighting

Frostbite just sat quietly on his floating disk with his paws covered over his head, trying to drown out the fighting.

_Can both of you just please stop this constant arguing, it's becoming too much!_ Darkvolt said.

_Sub-Terror, if they start fighting again, I give you permission to do anything it takes to split them apart_, he then added.

_You should make jokes more often Darkvolt, it suits you well_, Airheart commented.

Naga couldn't help but chuckle at them.

They may have been billions of years old, but they would still go at each other like a group of nine year olds.

* * *

Author's Note: If you read carefully, you'll see that I'm **NOT I repeat NOT **demoralizing the military, I'm chastizing corrupt hypocrites of every kind.

And to all of you readers with military families, I salute them for their service.


	5. A New Day

**New Guy Naga**

Author's Note: To all who've read my story, I hope you've enjoyed it.

Read and Review please, your opinion means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

_**Chapter 5: A New Day**_

It was a bright Sunday morning, but Naga was on the darkest end of the emotional spectrum as anyone could get.

He always hated it when he had to remember his life before he gained his powers, and the consequences that came with them.

Throughout the night Naga had silently been crying to himself. He didn't make a sound, but tears streamed down the side of his face, which he wiped off as soon as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

Naga was a natural born pessimist, and automatically assumed that the Titans were going to give him the boot.

Raven came into the room, along with Cyborg and Beast Boy.

_Great, their going to hand me over to the League, or God knows who,_ he thought.

_I feel that the events to come will be in your favor, Omar, hmhmhmhm,_ Airheart joked.

_Airheart you know not to call me that!_ Naga said as he was escorted down the hallway by the empath, cyborganic, and changeling. Hearing his original name always made him remember the choices he made, and the consequences that came as a result.

_I must agree with Airheart, the Titans most certainly would've put inhibitors on you if they were going to hand you over,_ Sub-Terror said.

_They're escorting us to our deaths!_ Inferno screamed.

Since Raven had found out about the creatures within Naga, she was able to better sense the inner turmoil within him, and was able to tell when he or the creatures argued amongst each other. Beast Boy and Cyborg could also pick up on Naga's fear. Beast Boy through animal instincts, and Cyborg through monitoring Naga's heart rate and persperation levels.

He didn't know what awaited him, but all he knew was that he wasn't going without a fight, even against the entire Justice League and Titans combined.

This caused him to be surprised when they walked into a common room that looked completely normal.

_I knew it, they plan on killing us with no one noticing!_ Inferno stated.

Robin walked up to Naga and said, "Naga, after some discussion..."

_We should burn this whole place to the ground and run!_

_Shut it!_ Frostbite shouted.

All of the Guardians, and even Naga, were taken back by Frostbite's sudden outburst.

Frostbite was like Raven, He was often quiet, and rarely spoke.

Unfortunately though, they were forced to redirect their attention back to the matter at hand.

"...we've decided to make you a part of the Titans," Robin said as he handed Naga a communicator.

Naga just stood in surprise, looking at the circular yellow device in Robin's outstretched hand.

Naga slowly took the communicator, unable to say anything, except "thanks?"

"You're now officialy a Titan," Cyborg happily said.

"Is there supposed to be some sort of catch or what?"

"None friend, you are a part of our family," Starfire said as she embraced Naga in a death grip.

The only thing Naga could think was, _not again._

When the alien let him go, he immediately started rubbing the red marks on his arms.

"There is one condition though," Robin said. "I want you to train with Raven and Beast Boy, every now and then, to try and gain control of your transformations," he added.

"Is that optional?" Naga said, getting a chuckle out of Beast Boy.

"Fine, anything else?" he said.

"That thing you did to Kitten and Fang, is only to be a last resort defense." Cyborg said.

"I also want you to train with me and Star in actual hand-to-hand combat; you're strong, but you need to know more than just point and shoot."

Just then the Tower alarm rang, signalling trouble.

Robin pulled up the monitor to show the city being attacked by Atlas, Katarou, Control Freak, Doctor Light, Mumbo, and a young Mad Mod with his army of robot soldiers.

"Dude what is this, villains united week?" Beast Boy complained.

"Titans go!"

* * *

_**Downtown Jump**_** City  
**

"And now for my next trick, I the AMAZING MUMBO, will make this bank disappear!"

"Oy, save some jolly good fun for the rest of us," Mad Mod said from his hover throne.

"Run, run from the light!" Doctor Light screamed at the panicking citizens.

Control Freak was making cars come to life with his reality warping remote, and while they looted from the ATM machines, he sat back enjoying a hot dog.

Katarou was stealing from every jewelry store he could find.

Atlas came out of a bank with a stack of gold bricks.

All of the villains were pulled out of their looting when black lightning bolts, starbolts, and dark energy came raining down from the sky.

"Well if it isn't the Teen Titans, now the show is really starting."

"And it seems they've got a new snot with 'em."

"Perhaps this one will be a worthy opponent."

"Hmph, no human can best the might of Atlas."

Naga and the other Titans stood from a rooftop, battleready.

"Fire," Mod commanded his robot soldiers.

The soldiers aimed their laser muskets at the Titans.

Scattering in different directions, each of them took on a seperate villain.

Robin drew his bostaff and went for Katarou.

Cyborg planned to remake his triumph over Atlas.

Starfire threw a starbolt barrage at Mad Mod's upgraded soldiers.

Beast Boy turned into a T-rex to take on the Control Freak's mobile autos.

Raven was busy dealing with Doctor Light and his solid-state Light holograms.

And Naga was fighting off Mumbo's twisted magic act.

"OY! hold still ya' sprag!" Mod yelled as Starfire kept avoiding the soldier's laser muskets.

"These battles will not be like our previous encounters," Katarou said, standing alongside Atlas, preparing to fight their respective counterparts.

"Dude when will you ever learn, we'll always kick you ass!" Beast Boy said as he demolished another wave of evil cars. "You haven't seen anything yet," Control Freak said, bringing out his double bladed lightsaber, and using his remote to bring out two ten meter tall Rancors. At the sight of the Star Wars horrors, Beast Boy avoided their attempts to grab him. He tried to turn into the Shrieker he and the others had encountered on the space station. Unfortunately, he still had trouble with extraterrestrial animals.

Meanwhile, Raven was busy with Doctor Light and his hard Light constructs. Every time she threw a black energy beam at a hologram, it would disappear, then reappear. Sending her soul self into combat, she chased down Doctor Light, however, she was unable to attack thanks to a force field sphere.

Naga was currently in the grip of the possessed hankerchiefs that were pulling him into Mumbo's ever expanding hat. Engulfing himself in flames, he soon burned away the rope that binded him. Soon the flames were making their way to the magician's hat. Mumbo, however, cut the off the rags, saving his hat, but also ended up freeing the rookie. Naga flew full speed at the two-bit carnie act, avoiding his exploding pinballs; acid spitting flowers; swarming doves, and rammed Mumbo in the gut with his shoulder, knocking him back a good ten yards, unconscious.

Naga went to see if anyone else needed help.

He went over to Beast Boy who had turned into a spinosaur and was trying to hold off the Rancors. In an attempt the create an opening for Beast Boy, Naga threw part of a stone wall at the lead Rancor, drawing its attention to him. Seeing his window of opportunity opened, Beast Boy rammed full force into the sci-fi monstrosity, knocking it unconscious, causing it to disappear. Beast Boy focused his attention on the remaining Rancor. Naga flew up next to Beast Boy's spinosaur head and asked, "need any help?"

Beast Boy nodded his head in the affirmative. He switched back into human form and said, "what do you have in mind?"

In response, Naga said, "stay in this spot no matter what." He dug his hands into the ground, and after about two minutes of waiting, the Rancor started to charge at them.

"Dude?"

The Rancor kept getting closer.

"Dude?" Beast Boy said in fear.

The beast was about 50 feet away from them, and closing in fast.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy screamed and covered his eyes.

As soon as the Rancor was about to grab them, Beast Boy felt himself rising into the air.

Opening his eyes to see what was going on, Beast Boy saw that he was standing on the head of a giant stone king cobra as tall as the Rancor.

The changeling turned around to see what was powering the behemoth. Naga's hands were stuck in the top of the head, his lower body submerged in the stone, and his eyes closed, focusing his consciousness into the gargantua.

Naga said to the shapeshifter, "you better hold on to something."

Turning into a gopher, Beast Boy dug into the snake and poked his head out of his hole to see what was going on.

Naga urged the monster to wrap itself around the Rancor's body.

The solid state hologram tried to pry the serpent off of it's body, but the snake was too strong.

Rearing its head up, the construct sunk its fangs into the Rancor's neck causing it to vanish into non-existence.

Naga brought down the creature, and gently laid it on the ground, where it crumbled.

Naga was on his hands panting from the extreme effort put into forming and controlling a construct of that size.

When the monster snake vanished the remaining villains continued their fights.

Atlas managed to get Cyborg in a full nelson, then he performed a pile driver on him. When Cyborg picked himself up, he armed both of his sonic cannons at Atlas and blasted him into the side of a wall.

Meanwhile, Robin seemed to have the upper hand on Katarou, until the latter used one of Doctor Light's inventions to blind the former. Katarou jabbed his staff into Robin's foot, smashing a few bones. While he was trying to fight, disoriented, and on one foot, Katarou brought the side of his staff into Robin's face, causing his nose to brake and blood to start coming out. Before Katarou could strike the final blow, a green ankylosaur knocked him away with its tail, hurling him into one of Mad Mod's robo soldiers.

Raven eventually managed to destroy the central power core in Doctor Light's suit, rendering him powerless. Knowing that he would be no match for the Titans he immediately ran away, leaving only Atlas, Control Freak, and Mad Mod.

Seeing that they were losing, Mad Mod pressed a button on his throne, and the remaining soldiers soon merged to form one big soldier.

Getting his strength back, Naga joined up with the other's for a joined attack on the giant robot.

"Teen Titans go!" Robin shouted, despite the broken nose and increasing blood loss. He and Cyborg performed the sonic boom, Raven sent her astral raven into the heart of the machine, Starfire threw a super starbolt, Beast Boy fell from the sky as a whale on the machine's head, and Naga turned himself into an ice drill and drove straight through the machine's chest. Through their combined efforts, the giant robot was soon a smoldering scrap pile, while the rest of the villains ran off. Soon the police arrived and took away Mumbo.

Knowing that they had won, the Titans went back to the Tower where Raven healed Robin's broken bones and nose.

"Is it normal for villains to attack in swarms like this?" Naga asked, pulling up picture's of the H.I.V.E Five's attack, the battle that revealed his secret ability, and their most recent fight.

"It's weird enough for them just to work together once," Beast Boy commented.

Cyborg brought up files of all the villains they've faced in the past few months.

"Let's see: The H.I.V.E Five; Johnny Rancid; Killer Moth; Kitten and Fang; Plasmus; Cinderblock; Mad Mod; Atlas; Katarou; Control Freak; Mumbo; and Doctor Light. What do most of these guys have in common?" Cyborg mused.

"They were all part of the Brotherhood of Evil." Raven said.

"Who?" Naga questioned.

"The Brotherhood of Evil are some seriously bad dudes. They once tried to take over the world with a black hole generator, but we stopped them, then they tried to take down all of the Titans at once, but I escaped, got other Titans who'd escaped, freed the ones they captured, and put the Brotherhood on ice, literally," Beast Boy told him, being the only one on the team with the most experience with the B.O.E. (**B**rotherhood **o**f **E**vil for short).

Naga walked over to a filing cabinet, looked through it, and found what he was looking for. A large dossier, in bold, underlined, all caps words, marked "**BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL:**"

* * *

**The Brain:**

**Real Name- Unknown**

**Age- Unknown**

**Abilities/Aspects-**

**Genius level IQ  
Immortal thanks to robotic body  
Immune to telepathy  
Can take over machines  
Master strategist  
Pod body prevents any form of physical combat**

* * *

**Monsieur Mallah:**

**Real Name- Monsieur Mallah**

**Age- Unknown**

**Abilities/Aspects-**

**Enhanced intelligence  
Superhuman physical prowess  
The Brain's right-hand man**

* * *

**General Immortus:**

**Real Name- Unknown**

**Age- Unknown (most likely immortal)**

**Abilities/Aspects-**

**Extended lifespan  
Master tactition  
Vast number of robot troopers  
Age prevents him from real physical combat**

* * *

**Madame Rouge:**

**Real Name- Laura De Mille**

**Age- Unknown**

**Abilities/Aspects-**

**Master of disguise  
Elasticity  
Superhuman abilities  
Weak against heat and cold  
Deadly Melee combatant**

* * *

**Goals:**

**World Domination**

**The Destruction of The Doom Patrol/Teen Titans**

* * *

Naga sat, cross-legged, on the living room sofa, going over everything he could about the B.O.E., talking amongst the creatures for whom he played host.

_If we ever come into contact with these people, we should slit their necks on sight_, Inferno stated.

_Why must you always resort to slaughter Inferno, try showing compassion_, Marina scolded.

_Don't start_, Darkvolt threatened, not wanting to go through another fight.

_We should train more in the case of the event, where we actually do meet this Brotherhood of Evil_, Sub-Terror said.

_You know we could just let Naga turn into one of us and we could totally kick those guys' asses_, Airheart said, wishing to avoid work.

_No Airheart, I still haven't gained full control over your forms, we will train as much as we need to_, Naga said.

_Fine_, Frostbite quietly said.

He and the others spent the rest of the day with a movie marathon, each watching a movie of their choice. Robin chose "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon," Cyborg picked "Super 8," Starfire wanted to watch "Peter Jackson's King Kong," Raven had chosen "The Raven," obviously, Beast Boy picked out "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," and Naga had chosen "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

First was Super 8. Naga always counted down with his fingers, the moments before the alien would attack. During the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms he always seemed to grin whenever the Rhedosaurus ate someone and even said that the end was "a real downer," to which Starfire said "but that was the part when they destroyed the monster and everyone is saved," to which Naga only said "exactly," giving an unsettling chuckle. He was only joking, but he always prided himself on being able to scare the crap out of people. Up next was Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which caused everyone, except Raven of course, to double over laughing. During Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Robin and Beast Boy were reinacting the battle scenes. Beast Boy turned into a gorilla while watching King Kong and beat his chest whenever Kong did. During The Raven, Raven was the only one smiling, while everyone else hid in fear; Naga even openly vomitted in a trash can a few times.

It was quarter past eleven when all of the movies were over, at which point the five founding Titans went to their rooms, and Naga curled up on the couch in his leg-length trench coat.

* * *

The next day when everyone woke up for breakfast, Naga wasn't there. Throughout the morning he was nowhere to be seen. When the Titans went down to the outside to train, they found that the missing member was already there, and looked like he had been there for a while.

They saw that he had the course set on its hardest level.

When Naga came to the barriers he calmly walked up to the first one, and by combining brute strength along with the combustion of lightning and fire, he punched the first wall, causing it to explode and crash into the walls that stood behind it. When he ran through the fist forest, he gracefully swerved out of the way of the obstructions.

Next came the disk launchers.

Using compressed water, Naga formed a barrier to catch the disks, then shot them out back at the launchers in shards of ice, destroying them.

After that came the pit. Naga could've easily flown over the pit, but he wanted a challenge.

Taking a running start, Naga long jumped into the hole and used his rocket breath to launch him the rest of the way. Unfortunately, it wasn't strong enough to get him to the other side, and he just missed the edge. Hovering out of the pit, he mentally berated himself for not making it to the other side.

The final trial: the laser turrets.

Dodging their repeated attacks, Naga made snakes made out of earth to snap the weapons at their base, granting him safe passage. When he got to the finish line he noticed that the others had been watching.

Starfire floated over to Naga and asked, "friend, how long have you been out here?"

"I don't know; I think I got out here around six or something."

(Little known fact: Naga has the worst concept of time).

"Great, we have a new Robin," Beast Boy joked, which got him an actual laugh from Cyborg and Starfire, and an annoyed look from Robin and Naga.

"I'm just preparing myself in the case of the event that I actually do meet the Brotherhood of Evil."

"Well I was going to have you practice on the course, but you've already done that, so later you'll practice gaining control of you transformations with Beast Boy and Raven."

"OK."

While everyone else trained on the courses, Naga went back into the Tower to get some rest.

* * *

"Dudes, is it just me or is Naga getting stronger?" Beast Boy said, looking at the destruction of the course.

"His powers do seem to be progressing," Cyborg said, going over footage of Naga's previous fights.

"But how do we know their progressing in the right direction," Raven said. After the Terra incident, she had learned to distrust members that came out of nowhere.

After replacing the damaged equipment, each Titan ran the course just like they always would.

Later Raven and Beast Boy went to find Naga and begin his self-control training, with Beast Boy reading through the comics section in the morning paper.

They found Naga in the common room, chopping the heads off of fish.

"Dude, what are you doing!" Beast Boy said in shock.

"What do ya' think. I'm makin' lunch."

After chopping the heads off, he did something that put a shocked look on Raven.

Coating his hands in ice, Naga pulled out the bones and guts from each of the fish, and threw them into a bucket. Sticking a metal rod through the fish corpses, he used his fire breath to evenly sauté the fish. After he let the fish cool down he spread dried, crushed oregano across his meal for flavoring.

"Uh Naga, it's time for your practice," Beast Boy said, holding back the urge to barf.

"Fine," Naga said as he followed them down the hall while eating his meal, which was still on the metal spit.

"So, where d'ya get the fish?" Beast Boy nervously asked.

"I got these a few miles away from Steal City; hey do you know some angry guy named Aqualad? Blue suit with scales on it."

"Yeah, he's part of Titans East, and he's from Atlantis, rule no.1: never eat fish in front of him." Raven said.

_Note to Naga: always eat fish in front of Aqualad_, Airheart said.

They soon got to the roof, where they would practice.

"So where do we start?" Naga skepitcally asked.

Beast Boy explained to him about how he can turn into other animals, while still supressing their base instincts. "You see when I transform, only my physical body changes, I still keep my human mind." He transformed into animals; starting with small creatures like lizards, but eventually growing into larger animals like mammoths.

Raven told Naga about her demonic heritage. After telling him how she could keep her literal inner demon under control, she sensed strong feelings of unnease and distrust radiating off of him.

_KILL HER, KILL HER NOW!_ Inferno shouted. Naga could feel Inferno's consciousness rising to the surface, attempting to destroy Raven. He felt the others attempting to hold back Inferno's rage.

Naga was on his knees, clutching his head, trying to keep his sanity, Raven got into her lotus position and her soul self entered Naga's mind.

* * *

**_Naga's Mind_**

Raven stood in the domed room that Naga had taken the Titans to during their last visit. She saw Inferno trying to escape the confines of Naga's mind, but being held back by the other five guardians. Lending her power, they chained Inferno down onto his floating disk.

When Raven returned into her own body, she found Naga sprawled out, exhausted.

"I think we should skip this lesson," Beast Boy said.

Naga and Raven nodded in agreement with the shapeshifter.

* * *

When the three went into the living room, they found only Cyborg there, who told them that Robin and Starfire were out doing something somewhere (not what your thinking of pervs).

"So, how did your special training go?"

"Let's see, what words can best describe it: horrible, terrible, bad, disastrous fail of epic proportions, and that's just sugarcoating it," Naga said.

Raven informed Cyborg of the events that transpired.

"Well now we know for sure that Inferno definitely needs to be kept in check."

"Seriously dude, do you even have a transformation that's actually pleasant to be around?"

"Define pleasant."

"Fun, happy, smiling, won't try to kill you at every chance they get," Beast Boy said.

"The only one I can think of is Marina."

"You mean the big lobster," Raven stated.

"Yeah. Airheart has a sick sense of humor, which he's proud of; Sub-Terror can be extremely stubborn; and Frostbite is more cold and distant than night time in the South Pole on the first day of January. Darkvolt's cool though."

Naga went to the couch and started flipping through channels, trying to find something good on. There was nothing. So he, Cyborg, and Beast Boy engaged in a slayer match on Halo: Combat Evolved. Ten rounds they played, and ten rounds Naga beat both of them. Eventually, Starfire and Robin came back, looking rather exhausted. Beast Boy and Cyborg, had to hide the shocked expressions on their faces, and the snickers that were trying to leave their mouths. Naga just gave a quizzical look, not fully comprehending what was so disturbingly funny, until it came to him, then he had a shocked look.

_Don't jump to conclusions Naga_, Marina told him.

_Yeah they don't look "exhuasted," exhausted_, Airheart joked.

_Airheart, just shut up for once_, Sub-Terror said.

Robin told the team that they had a surprise for them, and had them follow him and his alien girlfriend down the halls. Towards the room that once belonged to Terra.

Naga had only heard about Terra, and how she betrayed the Titans, through news reports, but he didn't really know about the girl herself. All the same though, he could tell a sense of unnease came off of the five, apparently they were close to her. Robin gestured for Naga to go in first. When he walked into the barely lit room, he felt his leg tug on a piece of string. He looked up to see a bucket full of sour gummy worms drop onto his head. When he pulled the bucket off, he saw a flash of light and found Robin with a camera in hand.

"That's your initiation into the Titans," Robin told him as he watched Naga wipe the sour flakes off of his arms.

"I feel so welcomed," he said sarcastically.

"Lay off the sarcasm, that's Raven's department," Cyborg joked.

"So, why d'ya bring me here, other than for complete and utter humiliation?"

"This."

Starfire flipped the switch, and showed them the surprise.

The room that had once belonged to the fallen Titan Terra, had been completely redone. Instead of desert wallpaper, the wall was covered with an assortment of snakes, ranging from garter snakes, to anacondas, to even Titanoboa.

"What's this for?" Naga asked in astonishement.

"This is your room, friend Naga," Starfire said.

"This is what me and Star have been doing all day."

Beast Boy and Cyborg both had looks on their faces that said, "I feel like a giant dumbass," which Robin picked up on.

"What did you _think_ we were doing?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

Naga could hear Airheart chanting, _they're screwed_, over and over in his head, and he couldn't help but laugh at the changeling and half-robot's misfortune.

The five left Naga alone in his room. Naga went onto the bed that sat against the wall and looked over everything. There was a bookshelf next to the bed and a breathtaking view of the city. The rest of the decorum design would be up to him.

Laying in his bed, Naga couldn't help but think to himself, _I'm accepted_.

* * *

Hope you've enjoyed.

P.S. This isn't the end. There will be more to this story.

Also I _may_ be making a sequel.

If you're still confused by what Inferno looks like, look at the story cover, but imagine it with red skin and black eyes.


	6. When Worlds Collide

**New Guy Naga**

Disclaimer: I still own nothing, but if I did, I would bring back the Teen Titans on Cartoon Network. Some of the stuff they show now is just disappointing, like Annoying Orange, Sidekick, or Almost Naked Animals. I like Adventure Time, MAD, Total Drama, and Regular Show though.

Just to recap. The following is a list of the Guardians that live within Naga, and their _unique_ personalities.

**Airheart**: The jokester. Airheart possesses a dark sense of humor, and loves to sadistically mess with his victims.

**Marina**: The heart. Marina would sooner reform a criminal before she terminates them. But that doesn't mean she won't.

**Frostbite**: The listener. Frostbite wishes to avoid strife by simply avoiding confrontation with the opinions of another person.

**Sub-Terror**: The muscle. When Sub-Terror has an opinion, he will stand by it, even if someone has a better idea. He has been known to only yield to Darkvolt.

**Inferno**: The rage. Although he is not evil, Inferno believes that to truly be done with a problem, you must eliminate it, permanently.

**Darkvolt**: The scales. To end conflict, Darkvolt often tries to come up with a solution that will appeal to all.

* * *

_**Chapter 6: When Worlds Collide**_

After his initiation, some things about Naga seemed to change. He was still something of an introvert, though he started smiling a little bit more. When Starfire attempted to drag him to the mall, he didn't object as much, though he still wanted Raven to tag along, needing another realist to talk to. He started coaching Beast Boy in video games, and soon he was on par with Cyborg, much to the latter's displeasure. His combat training with Robin and Star was also begining to show results. His elemental attacks became much more complex and intricate. He was able to make larger constructs for longer periods of time. He also developed some new abilities while training.

-(_Flashback to Naga training with Starfire_)-

Naga had used two swords made out of earth to stop the starbolts that flew at him. He then interlocked the swords at the hilt, turning it into a swordstaff. Stafire continually used her silver arm plates to block the strikes Naga attempted with his self-made weapon. When Naga had to maneuver the swordstaff behind him to avoid bisection, Starfire took the opportunity, and aimed a punch at his right shoulder. However, Naga used his right arm to block the blow. Robin was about to call off the training and have Raven heal Naga's arm, but for some reason he was able to use it perfectly, and even used it to block more punches, which in itself was very impressive. Even with enhanced durability, a single blow from a Tamaranean would at least have caused a fracture in his arm. Naga, though, kept fighting, as though it wasn't happening. When the training ended, and Raven attempted to heal Naga's wounds, she found that none of the bones in his right arm had been broken.

Naga then explained that he had learned to manipulate the minerals within himself on a subatomic level, to increase his bone density; and that he also drained the blood and fluids out of his arm and placed them in his feet, giving his arm no sense of touch, therefore making Star's punches ineffective.

-(_End Flashback_)-

Naga also learned the truth behind the Terra incident and the true emotional impact it had on the Titans.

However, his growing friendship with the Titans didn't seem to change the opinion's of the people of Jump City. Whenever Naga went into town, be it by himself or with the Titans, everyone glared at him wherever he went. Once the papers had even called him "the new Terra." It stated:

"_**While the child known as Naga seems to have earned the Titan's trust, the people of Jump City do not take a shine to this new member. While it is true** _**_that the Titans have allowed other heroes to join their ranks, and even formed other groups of Titans in various parts of the country, we must not forget a certain blonde who also possessed the power of geomancing, who betrayed the Titans, and aided Slade, the most hated villain in the history of our fair city, in nearly killing our heroes, and in bringing us to our knees_."**

The rest of the article was never read because Naga absorbed the paper in flames.

"Naga calm down," Raven told him, fearing that Inferno would try to use Naga's rage to escape.

* * *

Naga still hadn't made much progress in his self control training. Whenever he got enraged he still needed the help of the the guardians, when one of them attempted to escape. They also found out that he had slight anger management issues. Once, after a botched attempt to control himself, Raven lectured him on the need to gain control incase all of the Guardians attempted to break out, which irritated him so much that the black snake mark on his right side started to expand across part of his skin. He did stop the process, but he needed to be alone for a few minutes.

"I forget. What's the difference when the creatures inside of you take over, and when you transform?" Beast Boy asked.

"When a Guardian takes over me, they only gain a grasp on my mind; when I transform, it's similar to you, I gain their physical form & their powers and abilities, but I still have my own mind, albeit a feral mind."

* * *

"Friend, you must not allow the words of those who disapprove to cloud your judgement." Starfire then told him about meeting Val-Yor. She then told him what she had told to the others:

"There was nothing you could've done. There will always be people that say mean words because you are different. And sometimes their minds cannot be changed. But there are many more people that do not judge a person based on how they look, or where they come from. Those are the people whose words truly matter."

Unfortunately, Naga's pessimistic nature prevented the full effect of these words from truly taking effect.

Naga then left the Tower to go for a run.

* * *

Naga ran across rooftops throughout Jump City, trying to take his mind off of the world.

Before he could jump to the next roof, he saw something in the alley down below. A women was cornered by a thug in a leather jacket, with a gun, who kept swearing at her, telling her to give him her money. He then threw the women on the ground and went for her purse. Climbing down the side of the building, unseen, Naga jumped at the thug and planted the heel of his foot between the man's eyes. The criminal blasted three shots at Naga, who avoided two, and melted the third with fire breath. He grabbed the man's wrists and twisted it until he heard a sickening '_crack_.' The thief tried to run, but the snake fanged hero, grabbed him by his coat collar, and flung him out of the alley. Before the dirtbag could hit the ground, multiple stone fists rose from the ground, and punched him all across his body. Naga came out into the light and looked over his handywork. He noticed the woman he saved, looking at him with more fear than the man who nearly killed her. The police soon arrived, but Naga had already disappeared into the ground.

Naga came out of the ground in the Jump City forest.

The calming lack of civilization allowed him to relax, and to forget life's troubles, That is, until a two fists that, came out of nowhere, knocking him out.

* * *

Naga woke, tied to a wall, while behind an energy barrier that seemed to be affecting his powers, in a cave with various machines, guarded by robo troopers. In front of him stood a black pod with a white skull painted on it, with a brain in a domed jar.

"You must be the Brain."

"Quite correct, and you must be the new Titan who goes by the nom de guerre, Naga."

Soon from out of the shadows of the cave came a gorilla wearing a sash of ammunition, an old man in what looked like a WWII Nazi uniform, and a women in a red suit.

"Wait don't tell me. Monsieur Mallah, General Immortus, and Madame Rouge."

"Impressive, for one so young," Immortus said.

"So what is the next phase of the plan?" Rouge asked.

"What plan, what do you want from me?" Naga interrupted.

"Why wouldn't it be obvious my dear boy. We just want to talk," said an unseen voice.

"Who's with you?" Naga questioned.

"_sigh_. Forgive us, he likes to make an entrance," Mallah explained.

"You can come out now," Rouge said.

From out of nowhere, materialized a being who had robot parts similar to Cyborg, only they were red, and he had a picture of a horned skull on his chest.

"Who's this loon?"

"I am Brother Blood. You must be Naga."

"Cyborg's told me about you."

"Hm. I'm flattered."

Naga then added, "yeah you're that two-bit wackjob, who trained those pathetic excuses for villains the H.I.V.E. Five."

"Yes. They're not my finest work."

"So what do ya' wanna talk to me about."

"An alliance," the Brain told him.

"What do you mean?" Naga asked.

"What I just said child. You know how you have been facing multiple enemies and hazards for the past week, that has been our doing. We have been evaluating you, learning of your hidden potential. You are strong, but your powers are wasted with the Titans. You will become powerful beyond your wildest dreams. All you have to do is become our ally," the Brain responded.

"And why would I want to help you."

"Because, we can make your deepest desires become a reality," Blood said.

"How?" Naga skeptically asked.

"Like this," Blood said. Naga then saw his deceased family come back to reality, but then vanish.

"NOO!" he screamed not wanting them to leave again.

_Naga, it's not real. Remember what Cyborg told you: Blood tricks you into seeing things that are not really there_, Marina said.

Naga kept muttering to himself, "it's not real. It's not real. It's not real."

"You can have your revenge on all who have wronged you in your life," Immortus told him.

"You know they fear you, yet you also know that they should bow before your strength. They are weak, you are strong," Rouge said.

_Naga, what they promise is a lie; they will only use you as a tool for destruction_, Inferno said.

_I'm suprised Inferno I would have thought that you of all people would jump at the chance for revenge_, Marina said.

_It doesn't mean that I've stopped disliking humans, but I do know the difference between good and evil_.

All Naga said to the Brotherhood was, "kiss my ass and go to hell."

"_sigh_. The youth of today have no respect," Immortus mused.

"Reason is wasted on him. You know what to do Blood," Mallah said.

Blood's eyes glowed red as he tried to turn Naga into his puppet. Naga shook in his restraints, trying to fight Blood's influence. Blood halted his psychic assault, leaving Naga panting from the effort. However, Blood restarted his attack on Naga's psyche. The Guardians then aided Naga in defending against Blood, who was astounded by the resilience the child was putting up. Unfortunately, everything must break at some point. He continued his barrage, trying to take full control. Knowing he would soon be overwhelmed, Naga then resorted to his last defense. He allowed Darkvolt to get a grasp of his consciousness. Brother Blood could easily take down a child, but he was no match for a being as old as the planet itself, especially when he didn't know of the true origins of the creatures within Naga. Only the Titans knew of the Guardians sentience, to everyone else they were just feral transformations.

When he was able to purge himself of Blood's influence he and Darkvolt said to the Brotherhood of Evil, "if you pathetic wastes of DNA value your worthless existences, I suggest you release me."

"Illogical. You are there, behind a barrier that suppresses your powers, while we are here, with a multitude of machines that we can use to eradicate you from this world. Since we cannot persuade you to join us, annihilating you now will save us much trouble in the future. Mallah, prep the disintigration beam," the Brain said.

"I would severely advise against that," Naga said, regaining his own mind.

"What you advise for or against is irrelevant," The Brain said in his robotic monotone.

Mallah had the turned on the death machine and it made multiple whiring and beeping sounds.

All the while Naga just grinned while being tied to a wall, about to be obliterated into non-existence.

_Ready to make your début Darkvolt?_ he asked the black dragon.

_You do know what will happen?_ Darkvolt asked.

_It's the only way_.

Soon, the black snake mark on his side started to expand across his skin, merging with his clothes. Naga started to grow horns; his skin turned to scales; spines started to rise from his back; a tail emerged; he grew in size, breaking the shackles that binded him; leathery bat-like wings rose from his back; he then grew to as large as a pickup truck, and took the complete form of Darkvolt, the dark lightning dragon. Naga let out a roar that shook the entire cave.

"Fire," the Brain said.

When Mallah shot the disintigration ray, Naga used a massive bolt of lightning to diminish the beam. He then launched himself at the machine and used his jaws to rip apart the device at its base.

The villains stood, looking in horror at the beast that looked like it could swallow them whole.

"RUN!" Rouge shouted. Mallah grabbed the Brain's pod and all of them headed for the tunnel that led to the entrance of the cave. Unfortunately, Naga had thrown the dismantled machine at the tunnel, blocking their escape.

Naga now acted on instinct and only new two things. To survive and kill.

"Attack!" Immortus ordered. His robotic troopers then formed a protective line against the creature, firing their laser guns at him. Naga seemed to be unaffected by the multiple shots fired at him. He then fired dark lightning bolts from the horns on his head, and the troopers fell to pieces.

Brother Blood then shot his own energy beams, along with Mallah firing a laser gatling gun, at Naga. Naga used his leathery dragon wings to shield himself from the attacks.

Influenced by rage, Naga lunged at the Brotherhood, who were able to dodge at the last minute.

"Blood, he is little more than a mindless beast, try again to gain control him," Immortus said.

Blood tried again to seize influence over Naga, but his mind was too much of an endless sea of primal instincts.

Naga then said in a deepened voice, "prepare to embrace obilivion." Sending electricity through the ground he tortured the Brotherhood of Evil, and he wouldn't stop until he heard each of them begging for death; and since it's hard to talk while you're being tortured, this would take a while. He walked up to the Brain, reared his tail up in the air, and brought it down. However, before he could destroy the Brain, his tail was encased in a mass of dark energy. He looked up to see the Titans coming out of the tunnel and into the chamber. Naga crouched down, ready to kill when it became necessary.

During the momentary lapse in action, Brother Blood was able to teleport himself and the rest of the Brotherhood of Evil out of the cave to some unknown location.

* * *

In his primal rage Naga let loose multiple lightning bolts, trying to destroy the Titans.

Along with having to avoid deadly lightning, the Titans had to avoid the shrapnel pieces that flew off the machines in the cave, and the cave itself falling apart.

Raven formed an energy barrier around them, while Naga continually smashed away at it.

Raven then sent out her soul-self, trying to bring him back like the first time they saw him transform. Unfortunately, Naga was prepared this time, and threw the astral projection away from his mind.

Naga then blasted a hole in the wall, lifted the stones in the air, shaped them into lances, infused them with lightning, and launched them at the energy dome.

Raven was having trouble keeping the force field up with the continuous attacks. Her shield eventually faltered, and in her exhaustion, Naga's dragon tail smashed her against the cave wall, causing blood to leak out of the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.

Powered by righteous fury, Starfire slammed into Naga's ribs, throwing him on his side. Naga countered by smacking the alien away with his wings, slamming her into Robin.

When the boy blunder regained himself, he threw two disks below Naga. When he knelt down to investigate, the weapons exploded in his face, resulting in the broad side of his hand, meeting Robin's body.

Cyborg launched Beast Boy, who turned into an elephant mid-throw, and landed on the black dragon's back.

Naga seemed to be knocked unconscious by the pachyderm's impact, and the changeling switched back to his human form.

Naga's tail wrapped itself around Beast Boy's leg, repeatedly smashing him up against the cave wall, and threw him out of the hole in the cave, where he went free-falling down the cliff face. Cyborg launched his rocket arm, which caught the green shapeshifter by the collar, and gently laid him down in a field.

Cyborg tried to hold Naga off with just one hand, until one of the others regained consciousness. Hopefully this would be soon, because this creature was clearly playing with him, forcing him to go to the furthest limits of his abilities and beyond.

When Cyborg's other arm came back, he fired two beams of continuous sonic energy, along with most of his internal arsenal, at Naga; hoping, praying, that this would be enough to subdue the monster. It had to, because the double sonic attack left him running on auxiliary energy.

When the dust started to clear, a black hand pinned him down to the floor. Naga brought up his other forepaw and swung it forward, with the intent of decapitating his teammate.

However, something stopped him from destroying the metal man. Something about him seemed to be familiar to Naga. In fact something about all of the creatures around him: the walking traffic light; the blue robed witch child; the green beast down in the field; and the red-headed humanoid, seemed to be familiar.

It was then, that a flood of memories from the past six months appeared before him; him finding the seal, the Guardians granting him their powers, the slaughter of his family at the hands of Eiling, meeting & joining the Titans, and his recent capture by the Brotherhood of Evil. He then realized where he was, what had happened, what he did, and what he was about to do.

Naga stepped back, mortified by what he had done to the people who treated him as family. The shock started to change him back into his original human form. He was about to collapse from the strain, but he remembered what was happening, the Titans were dying, because of him.

_Run leave them! You can still escape!_ Inferno urged.

_I'm not going to leave them_.

Naga brought all of the bleeding Titans towards him, forced his concentration on the blood, and willed it to go back to its host. This was better said than done, as he needed to broaden his center of awareness, or else the bleeding would continue.

_Marina I need your help_.

_I would be happy to aid you in this endeavor_, Marina calmly stated.

Instead of fighting it, Naga embraced Marina's presence in his mind.

With new found power, Naga and Marina sealed the blood away, and to prevent more bleeding, created casts made out of ice.

They put the five on a stone platform, and rode off for the T-shaped fortress. Once there Naga went into the infirmary and placed each of them on a medical bed. Letting Marina guide his actions, he turned on the machines that were needed, and hooked each of them up to an IV therapy bag. The heart monitors started to beep at a steady pace, and the five were all bandaged up, Naga went out on the beach hoping to relax.

_They're going to kick our asses to the curb, I just know it_, Frostbite stated.

_You know, normally I'd agree with you, but this time the last thing I need is pessimism_, Naga said.

_Naga, you musn't let your cynicism dominate your life, it's just not healthy_, Marina told him.

After the talk with the Guardians Naga went back into the Tower to check on his friends. They were still unconscious, but breathing, that had to be a good sign. Right? He noticed that the IV bags were starting to run low, so he refilled them.

Later, he went into the living room, hoping to drown out his thoughts with something funny, or at the very least, gorry and horrifying.

While he was watching an episode of God the Devil and Bob, the little maggot that the others called Silkie kept nudging at his legs and kept whining.

"What's up?" he coldly asked.

The little caterpillar started chewing on one of the sofa cushions, trying to say he was hungry. Naga picked up on this and looked through the frige, trying to figure out what the creature ate.

As soon as he opened the refrigerator, Silkie started to gourge himself on anything and everything he could set his sights on.

By the time that Silkie was finished, the frige was half-empty.

When he closed the frige, he noticed a piece of paper that said **"****Chores:****"**

**Robin- Dishes**

**Beast Boy- Vacuum**

**Starfire- Wash Windows**

**Raven- Dust**

**Cyborg- Feed** **Silkie**

**Naga- Take Out Trash**

"Well I've already fed Silkie."

_Hmm, since the others won't be around for a while, I might as well do this other stuff._

Using his powers, Naga got through half of the work in about twelve minutes. He still had to: vacuum, dust, and take out the trash. While he was using a small twister to dust, the Tower alarm went off and the living room monitor showed an armed robbery five miles away.

When he checked on the conditions of the Titans, they were still unconscious, so he would have to handle this by himself. And to think this day couldn't get any harder.

* * *

_**Bank of Pérez**_

The Bank of Pérez, which normally would have been some inconspicuous buliding in a street filled with inconspicuous buildings, was surrounded by virtually every police car, sniper, news team, and even SWAT Forces that was in the city.

A woman in front of a news camera said, "as of four pm today, a group of highly dangerous criminals, armed with machine guns; bazookas; and rocket launchers, have taken over the Bank of Pérez, and have taken an unspecified number of hostages. About an hour ago, their leader demanded that if the city does not meet his demands of 2.5 billion dollars, he will kill a hostage for each hour it's late. The Titans have been requested but so far, are nowhere to be seen. Wait, I'm seeing something coming towards us, but I can't make it out."

A minute later Naga landed among the crowd and made his way to the officers up near the front.

The officer in charge of the barricade hesitated before assessing the situation to the teen in front of him.

"They have men with rocket launchers posted at all conceivable entrances, and snipers on the roof and in the alleys..."

Before he could say anything else, Naga had disappeared into the ground below.

* * *

_**Inside the Bank of Pérez**_

So far so good. The hostages were taken care of; the location had been secured; the demands were made; and there were no heroes in sight. All according to Black Masks' plans.

Tired of being humiliated at the hands of the Dark Knight time and time again, Roman Sionis decided to do what he considered easy work; a bank job in a town whose only superpowered support, were six children. Of course Black Mask himself wouldn't take part in such lowely grunt work, which is why he hired local, unimportant thugs, who themselves, have been humiliated at the hands of the Titans, while he stayed in Gotham to coordinate the mission and supplied the goons with the necessary equipment.

Naga was creating a tunnel under the bank to get the drop on the criminals, when his communicator went off. He knew this could only mean one thing, and that eased the tension off of his mind. Opening the device, he was greeted by the sight of Robin and the others, still in the infirmary.

"Naga, where are you?"

"It's a long story; I'll explain later, right now there's a bank robbery, but I'll take care of it, you guys just stay in the Tower."

And with that, he shut the communicator before they could say anything.

Putting his attention back on the job at hand, he continued making his tunnel.

He came up in a shadowed area in the back of the bank, right behind a fool with a machine gun.

Naga mentally created cobras out of the stone floor, and had them clamp down on the man's wrists, causing the gun to fall out of his hands. Naga used the constructs to knock the crook unconscious, and to drag him into the ground, leaving everything from the neck-up visible.

He stayed hidden in the shadows, knowing that if he attacked the gang head on they would kill the civilians before he could get to them. He went back underground, thinking of a plan.

_Sub-Terror, I need you to merge with my mind, now!_

_Very well_.

Together, with the power of Sub-Terror, Naga subdued the mobsters using the same process he used on the first guy, leaving only one still conscious.

Naga grabbed him by the neck and lifted him in the air and said, "who sent you?"

Fearing for his life, the man said, "I was payed to do this! Some guy who calls himself Black Mask! Please don't hurt me!"

Naga floated down to ground level, threw him against the wall, and used concrete to restrain him.

The hostages cringed as he walked over to free them.

_Unbelievable, I save them from facing death and yet they're still afraid of me_.

After freeing them, Naga made sure that all of the innocents in the bank got out safely.

When he went back outside he told the police of the situation he left the criminals in.

Before he could take off for the Tower though, he was swarmed by news crews, all with the same question, "where are the rest of the Titans?"

He didn't even answer with "no comment," knowing that it wouldn't help even if he had said it. To get away from the press, he forced them all away by creating an air dome around himself, and took off.

* * *

When he made it back to the Tower, he found the other's had left the infirmary, and were in the living room, Raven seemed to have healed them as best as she could, but they were still bandaged up: Beast Boy's left leg was in a cast, Robin's left arm was fractured, Raven's right leg was in a splint, and Cyborg was dented on his right arm, left leg, and most of his body, not to mention sparks comically going out of his head. Starfire was the least injured, no bones seemed to be broken, but she was bandaged around her body, arms, and legs.

Robin gestured for Naga to stand in front of him and said, "what were you doing with the Brotherhood of Evil?"

"I wasn't working with them, if that's what you're thinking, they captured me, and offered for me to join them. They're the ones behind the events of the past week. They've been evaluating me. I turned them down but then Brother Blood tried to possess me and..."

"Hold it, Blood is with them?" Cyborg asked in astonishment.

Naga just nodded yes.

"Great, that's just great."

"And for the reason why I transformed, they were going to try and kill me with some sort of disintigration ray, so I had to to save myself."

"He seems to be telling the truth," Raven said after not picking up on any deceit.

"But how did you not end up killing us? You still haven't been able to transform without going feral," she added.

"I was about to decapitate Cyborg, when, for some reason, I remembered everything that's happened to me since I got my powers."  
He noticed Cyborg grabbed his neck upon hearing this and he couldn't help but chuckle along with Airheart.

After contemplating, this Robin said "I think your morality was finally able to push through to the surface and you were able to get a grasp on your sanity, but I'm not so sure if it's a permanent thing or something that'll have to be worked on."

Naga then told them about the robbery, and how some guy named Black Mask had organized the whole affair.

The eyes on Robin's mask grew wide when he heard the knews of one of his mentor's greatest foes, operating in his town.

"Dude what's wrong with you? Ya' look like Doctor Light after Raven pulled him into her cloak."

Robin told them about how Black Mask was one of the most infamous crime lords in Gotham City.

"Great, not only do we have to worry about the Brotherhood, but villains from all around are coming to town."

Robin went over to the monitor and sent a message to Batman about Black Mask.

Naga was just surprised. He figured that after transforming into a dragon that control's lightning and nearly killing everyone, he would've gotten himself kicked out for sure.

But just when he thought he was in the clear Robin said, "Naga, you do know that until our injuries are fully healed, and Cyborg is able to get replacement parts, you and Starfire will have to do the work of six Titans."

"Yeah," Naga exasperatedly said.

When everyone limped off to bed, Beast Boy and Starfire went up to Naga and told him, "we know you wouldn't knowingly hurt us."

_sigh. Their faith is misplaced_, Frostbite said.

Naga couldn't help but wonder if that was true.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Should I continue with this story? Please review with a yes or a no.


	7. Trust

**New Guy Naga**

**Standard Disclaimer:** I own nothing; I probably never will own anything; this fanfic is purely for enjoyment's sake. I didn't name this title after the Teen Titans episode, I just found it appropriate to lead right where chapter six "When Worlds Collide," left off.

Little trivia: The base idea of my story was originally a book/video game idea I had; then I found out about this sight, and lo and behold, this fic.

Thanks to a review from an anonymous reader, I've decided to continue this fic; I even have a few sequel ideas.

Please read and review.

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Trust**_

After Beast Boy and Starfire's futile attempts at trying to cheer him up, Naga left for the sanctity of his room, where he took solace from the assorted serpents that decorated the walls.

The room was still rather empty, the only furniture being the bed, but the book shelf was starting to fill itself up with various sci-fi, fantasy, and reptilian biology books.

However, because Marina's compassion ran through him, he could feel the tension of Terra's betrayal that still resided in the room.

_I cannot even fathom the pain that the Titans felt over the betrayal of the child_, Marina stated.

_That girl was unworthy of her gifts_, Sub-Terror said, proud of his powers.

_Do not worry about it Sub-Terror, she is no longer a threat as, according to Beast Boy, she now wishes for a normal life_, Marina said.

Naga moved over to the bed. After today, sleep seemed to be one of the greatest prospects in the world.

* * *

The next day, Naga slept in, not wanting to have to do anything. Unfortunately, he dragged himself out of bed, knowing that work was inevitable.

When he made it to the common room, all the others were seated at the breakfast table, still bandaged, but no longer in casts. Apparently, Raven had been able to heal them much more. They had told him that it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't look them in the eye.

He bypassed the breakfast table and sat on the couch, alone.

"Naga, you know we don't blame you for what happened, you don't have to exile yourself," Robin told him.

"I'm fine, I just don't feel like eating."

"Robin, are you sure that's necessary?" Raven asked.

"From what Beast Boy and Cyborg told me, it seems like the only option."

"We know what we told you dude, but we never said subject him to torture," Cyborg said, which got him an annoyed look from Raven.

Robin stood up and said, "Naga, after breakfast, you're going to continue training with Raven and Beast Boy."

"Whoa dude, why do I have to help?" Beast Boy whispered.

"Because, you have experience with this."

Beast Boy just laid his head disappointment, knowing that there was no use in arguing.

"It's just as much of a picnic for me as it is for you," Raven sarcastically told him.

Later, Raven lead Naga and Beast Boy to her room, where she had them stay outside, saying that she needed to get something.

Beast Boy leaned over to Naga and whispered, "Word to the wise, unless you're commiting suicide, do not go into Raven's room without her permission."

Naga just looked at him with a confused look, but heeded the advice nonetheless.

Raven returned, her cloak covering her entire body, telling them to follow her up to the roof.

When they made it up to the roof, the sight of so many failed attempts at control, Raven pulled back her cloak to reveal what she had gotten. It was a mirror, but not any kind of mirror Naga had ever seen. It was gray, with two spikes facing up, two facing down, with two red jems embedded into it.

"Not to question anything, but how is a freaky mirror supposed to help me?"

Beast Boy just laughed and said, "you'll find out."

When Raven looked into the mirror, four red eyes appeared on it. Instantly A claw made out of black energy shot out of the mirror.

Naga took a battle stance, but was distracted by Beast Boy's calm demeanor.

Two more claws appeared, one claw grabbed him, the other two grabbed Raven and Beast Boy, who didn't even fight back.

Naga soon found himself falling through a dark vortex followed by the changeling and empath.

He shut his eyes, afraid of the horrors that most certaintly awaited him.

* * *

After about five minutes of nothing, Naga slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying in a pasture with black empty skies, with Beast Boy and Raven standing over him.

He slowly stood up, unsure of where he was, what had happened, or why he was where he was.

As he got up, he looked around; there were trees scattered around the area, and hills about fifty feet from them.

"Huh, this place is different from the last time I was here," Beast Boy said.

"Where am I?" Naga frantically asked.

"Hmm, how do we tell you this, without you freaking out?" Beast Boy joked.

"We're in my mind," Raven bluntly stated.

Naga started to laugh in disbelief, "you... you guys... must be messing with me."

"We're not pulling your leg dude, Nevermore, Raven's mind, is a dimension all its own, but the last time me and Cyborg were here, it was this ominous looking place with floating stones in an empty void."

"Since my father's defeat, my mind has become less... chaotic," Raven informed.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Naga screamed.

Beast Boy and Raven told him about his and Cyborg's first excursion into her mind, about the emoticlones, and that Robin wanted them to take him there, feeling that it was the best way to help him learn control.

"Let me get this straight: your mind is it's own dimension; your emotions are seperate entities called 'emoticlones;' and somehow, I'm supposed to learn to control my transformations, with their help?"

"That about sums it up," Beast Boy said with a goofy grin on his face.

Suddenly, pain-filled sobbing could be heard in the area. Naga turned around to find a gray cloaked Raven sitting with her back to him sobbing.

Naga looked back and forth between the gray cloaked Raven on the ground and the blue cloaked Raven that stood near him.

"That's Timid, she's something of a downer," Raven said.

Naga kept looking back and forth, "huh, I would have thought Timid was standing right next to me."

Beast Boy couldn't help but laugh at Naga's remark about Raven's general personality.

This only caused Timid to sob even louder, and for giggling that wasn't Beast Boy's to be heard.

He looked in a different direction to find another Raven, in a pink cloak, running towards them with her arms outstretched and making airplane noises.

"Let me guess, that's ditzy."

This, however, only caused the pink emotion to laugh even harder.

She ran up to him and hugged him saying, "you can call me Happy, Omar."

Naga pried Happy off of him and sternly said, "don't call me that, my name is Naga!"

"Whatever you say," Happy said still unable to hold in her fits of giggles.

Naga just looked at Beast Boy and the real Raven with a confused look and asked, "is she always like this?"

Raven and Beast Boy just nodded their heads up and down.

Deciding to see if the pink Raven always was happy, Naga started shooting lightning off at Happy's feet.

Happy just giggled and danced away from the lethal sparks.

Naga just shook his head in disbelief at the emotions constant joy.

Soon, more emotions with different colored robes started to appear.

"Hello Naga, it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Knowledge," a yellow robed Raven with glasses said, calmly shaking Naga's hand.

"WHAT'S UP!" said a green robed Raven who spun him around and vigorously shook his hand, while giving Naga a noogie.

"That's Brave," Raven said, embarresed by the emotion's outburst.

"Arm wrestle, come on!" the green clad emotion said, "I want to see if you're as strong as we've heard."

"No," Naga said, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"What's the matter, chicken?" Brave said, flapping her arms and making noises like a chicken.

_Oh she is sooo goin' down!_ Sub-Terror said, cracking his knuckles.

"You are so on," Naga said.

Naga raised a stone platform and set his arm on it.

Brave set her arm on the platform and interlocked her hand with his.

As if by instinct, the other Emoticlones backed away.

_You better not lose to the emotion of the demon spawn_, Inferno threatened.

_Stop calling her that Inferno, she is only half-demon, she is still half-human_, Marina said.

_That makes it even worse_, Inferno retorted.

_Focus!_ Sub-Terror said.

Knowledge put her hands on theirs and said, "as much as I do not condone this pointless display of macho brutality, on your mark... get set... GO!"

Naga and Brave were deadlocked, their arms staying mainly in the same spot, occasionally going in a different direction, but eventually reverting back to the starting position.

"Wow, this is the first time Brave's gotten into an arm wrestling contest that didn't last less than seven seconds," Knowledge commented.

"Hm, you're not half bad kid, but you're not going to beat me," Brave said with a cocky smirk on her face.

"I wouldn't be so sure myself if I were you."

The muscles throughout Naga's body started to tense, and Raven could sense Sub-Terror's consciousness rising to the surface.

With Sub-Terror merged with his mind, Naga gained a newfound strength in determination, and started to force Brave's hand down.

Brave was starting to look worried, afraid that she might lose. Pouring all of her strength into her arm Brave tried to force Naga and Sub-Terror into submission, but with the strength his powers gave to his human body, and the determination that the original geomancer provided, Naga seemed to have victory in the bag.

He would have, if the column of stone he summoned hadn't busted from the pressure of his and Brave's combined strength.

In order to save feelings, and make sure a rematch wasn't called for, Knowledge said, "I declare this match a draw as there is no need for a rematch!"

When Naga re-established control over his mind, he saw Brave point to him then to herself, and then slam her fist into her hand.

Knowledge pushed Naga out of Brave's field of vision, back over to Beast Boy and the real Raven.

"Whoa, I've only been here once, but even I know that Brave is like, the toughest emotion here, so what you just did; cool," Beast Boy said.

"Let's get back to the reason we're here," Raven said, annoyed at the distractions.

"NOT SO FAST!" came an enraged voice.

"Oh no, I was hoping that we could avoid _her_," Raven said with her head in her hands.

"Who?"

"The scariest, most vicious of Raven's emotion in all of Nevermore," Beast Boy said in fear.

All of the other emotions ducked behind trees and rocks as a red cloaked Raven made her way towards the four beings not hiding from her.

"This is Rage," Knowledge said as she embarrassedly pulled her hood up.

"Wait? Where's the four glowing red eyes?" Beast Boy said, noticing how Rage had two non-glowing normal eyes.

"Like I said before, Trigon no longer influences my mind, so Rage looks just like the other Emoticlones."

When Naga made eye contact with Rage she made a deep, throaty growl.

"But that doesn't mean she's any less mad," Raven added.

Rage sniffed the air around Naga and said, "I never thought I'd say this, but you have an anger that almost rivals my own. Almost," she said with a vicious grin.

"You have no idea of the depths of Inferno's rage," he said looking her straight in the eye with his own grin.

Knowledge pushed Naga back towards the two Titans that had accompanied him into the pocket dimension. But before Naga was out of Rage's sight, she made the throat slicing gesture with her thumb.

"From now on, no more picking fights with my emotions."

Naga just rolled his eyes and said, "no promises."

"Hey! Is anyone else digging this kid's hair!" Happy screamed, running her hands through Naga's afro.

"And I prayed to see the last of you." Naga put the pink emotion on a twister and threw her at least fifty feet away, with her just smiling all the way.

Nearby, an orange robed Raven was lying on her back, laughing wildly.

"Please tell me that's a pleasant emotion."

"That's Rude," Knowledge said, straightening out her glasses.

Naga turned back to Rude to find her digging in her ear with one hand, while scratching her rear with the other, "that would've been my second guess."

"_sigh_, well since we're already on a role, why not just waste more time and meet the other two," Raven said, annoyed.

As if on cue, a purple cloaked emotion came out from behind a tree and gracefully walked over to the four.

"This is the embodiment of Raven's love," Knowledge stated, still embarressed.

"You must be the new resident in the Tower that we've been hearing about," she said while slowly circling Naga.

"That's enough Love, we're not here just so you can flirt," Raven said.

"I'll see _you_ later." And with that, Love floated away, but not before winking back at Naga.

Naga couldn't hold down the blood rising to his face as he watched the seductive emotion float away.

"I think she _likes_ you," Beast Boy slyly said.

"Don't worry about her, she does that with every boy she meets," Raven said, her face in her hands.

Regaining rational thought, Naga tried to cover up his foolishness. He said, "y-you said two. Where's the other emotion?"

"Follow me," Knowledge said. She eventually lead them to a large junk pile filled with empty soda cans, discarded pizza boxes, and used tissues.

Grabbing a stick, Knowledge poked the pile in various areas, as if something would come out of it.

Soon though, something did pop out; a Raven in a Brown cape that looked like she had been asleep.

"This is Sloth, she is the embodiment of Raven's more... 'hygienically challenged side,' as Starfire put it," Beast Boy said.

"Think of her as Beast Boy times five," Raven said.

Beast Boy just gave an annoyed glare.

"Knowledge, what's so big and important that you had to wake me?"

"Sloth, get off your lazy ass and say hello to Naga," Knowledge said as she continually poked Sloth with her stick.

"Alright-alright, sheesh. Hey," Sloth said as she reluctantly extended her hand for Naga to shake.

"Hi," Naga said, less than enthusiastic.

"Now can I go back to sleep?" Sloth asked, clearly annoyed.

"Go right ahead ya' filthy, disgusting creature," Rude said floating past them.

Sloth floated over to her trash pile and used her cloak as a blanket.

Naga just had a look of shocked disgust.

He leaned over to Knowledge. "She's willing to sleep on a pile of garbage?" he asked.

"She'd be willing to sleep in animal feces if it means she can get a nap."

After hearing this Beast Boy was on the verge of upchucking.

"Now that that distraction is over, can we get back to the reason we're here: helping you gain control of your transformations."

"How was this... little field trip supposed to help me learn control?"

"Ugh, have you not been paying any attention. You see the chaos that goes on around here, and you notice how I stay in control?"

"Point taken," Naga said as he looked around.

"Now get into the lotus position, and do like we've practiced."

"Are you sure? You want me to try and transform in your mind?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you worried I'll, ya' know, go psycho and destroy your mind?"

"If I am not mistaken, you have been able to gain a grasp on your sanity while tranformed before," Knowledge chimed in.

"Yeah, but that was when I was on the verge of killing everyone."

"Dude, we'll help you, that's what we're here for."

Naga looked at each of them. Beast Boy had his usual goofy grin on, Knowledge had a small smile on her face, while she and Raven both nodded their approval.

Naga took a deep breath, got into the lotus position, and started breathing in deeply. Slowly the black snake mark on his side started to expand across his skin merging with his clothes, until he became a pitch black mass.

"I wonder which form he'll take," Beast Boy said.

"Personally I'd prefer the lobster, she's the least explosive" he added.

"Beast Boy, only his physical form changes, it's still his mind; but I will agree with you that Marina is the most emotionally stable next to Darkvolt," Raven said.

Naga was growing in size, growing gray feathers across his body, his face elongating and turning into a beak, his eyes narrowing, his feet growing scales and talons. He then took the form of Airheart, the wind falcon.

Naga let out a guttural shriek, as he smashed the areas where Beast Boy, Raven, and Knowledge stood with his beak.

"Naga regain your sanity, use your mind!" Knowledge screamed.

Naga flapped his wings, forming hurricane force winds, uprooting trees and blowing away boulders.

Soon the winds started to form into a real tornado.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea!" Knowledge said, trying to be heard over the instant twister.

Raven threw an energy shield over them, stopping the wind from affecting them.

"Dudes, how did he get back his mind last time?" Beast Boy asked.

"If Raven's memory serves, he said he was on the verge of killing everyone," Knowledge said.

"Great, so all we have to do is let him try to kill us!" Raven screamed sarcastically.

Naga sent the twister to engulf the energy dome in its vortex of destruction.

Raven was having enough trouble keeping the dome up against the wind itself, but followed by debris, was starting to affect her energy reserves.

And while Naga was attempting to destroy them, something in the back of his primal mind kept tugging at him, but he immediately shrugged it off.

Soon the wind started to die down and Naga was nowhere to be seen, although Raven still kept the shield up. Better safe than sorry.

They started to hear a strong whistling sound. When they looked around though, everything was normal, except for the scattered trees and stones that littered the ground.

Raven dropped her shield, though her powers still glowed on her hands.

Then out of nowhere, Naga came, in a head-first dive, straight into the ground between Raven, Beast Boy, and Knowledge.

Using the momentary confusion to his advantage, Naga smacked Raven and Beast Boy away with his wings, sending them hurtling back.

He then set his sights on Knowledge. But before he could go for the kill, a green blur caused his head to make a whiplash to the left.

Knowledge noticed her brawny counterpart standing a few feet away from where she stood.

"Told ya' I'd get a rematch!" she said as she launched herself back at the grey falcon.

Naga mainly used his wings to block each of Brave's adrenaline filled punches.

While Naga was trying to defend himself, that same feeling of uncertainty kept tugging at him. Stronger this time.

Leaping back to distance himself, Naga started to fly away, only to be followed by Raven and Beast Boy in pterodactyl form.

Naga twisted his body to face the two, and kept sending gusts of wind to slow them down. But because he was trying to fly and attack at the same time, the wind just flew at random areas.

He dived towards the ground attempting to lose them. It was then, that the same process of memories started flooding into him.

If he could grab his head with his wings, he would've been rocking in agony.

He came crashing into the ground, throwing up dirt in his path.

Raven and Beast Boy landed a few feet away from the crater Naga had created.

When he regained consciousness, he looked around, starting to remember where he was. Who he was.

"R-Raven B-Beast Boy?" he said in a low voice.

They started to move forward towards him, realizing that he was starting to regain himself.

"I do believe that Naga has started to gain control," Knowledge said from behind them, which caused Beast Boy to jump with fright.

Before he could move Naga started to revert back to his original form. He collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

When he dusted himself off and pulled his tired form out of the crater, Knowledge said, "Hmm. It seems that he still goes into a feral state of mind after the transformation process. Also, the process by which he gains control, his... memory dumping, seems to take its toll on him. The good news is that it is starting to happen sooner with each attempt."

"I think we're done for the day," Raven said.

Beast Boy and Naga just nodded their heads in agreement.

As they were making their way to get out, Beast Boy said, "So Naga, what'd you think of Nevermore and Raven's emotions?"

The veins in Naga's hands and neck tensed, "personally I prefer the company of Rude, hehehehehehehehe," Airheart chuckled.

"Of course _you_ would prefer the company of _her_. I prefer the company of Happy, she's so... upbeat," Marina said.

"More like a bubbleheaded ditz! I hate just about everyone here, but at least Rage knows how to make a person crap themselves scarred," Inferno said.

"At least Timid is a realist," Frostbite quietly said.

"Brave is the only one here that's worth fighting," Sub-Terror proudly complimented.

"To me, Knowledge is more pleasant to be around," Darkvolt said.

Knowledge just bowed to Naga.

When Naga regained his mind, he wobbled back and forth, trying to get over his feelings of vertigo.

"It's one thing when just one of them takes over, but when they go one right after the other, ugh."

Naga laid down near a bush as Raven and Beast Boy started walking again.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked as she noticed how Naga was just laying in the grass.

"What does it look like, I'm trying to relax."

"Dude, we gotta go," Beast Boy said.

"Guys, in the coarse of less than a day, I've been: pulled through a magic mirror into the mind of one of the people I share a T-shaped house with, which just so happens to be it's own dimension; I've met said member's emotions, which are called Emoticlones; transformed into a giant wind falcon; got into a dog-fight; crashed to the ground; and on top of that: in less than three minutes, I've been possessed by six ancient beings. Now I respect that this is your mind, but right now, I think I've earned some rest time." And with that, Naga placed his head in his hands as he reclined on the ground.

"Aaayeee-ahhhhh. He does have a point, it has been a really, uh... interesting day." Beast Boy stretched out and propped his back up against a tree.

Though Raven wouldn't admit it, she was also slightly worn out from the day's events. So she got up against a nearby rock, sat on the ground, and leaned against it.

Surprisingly, sleep came quite quick to each of them. Within four minutes, they were each fast asleep.

Soon Rude came by, followed by Timid, with a magic marker in hand.

"A-Are y-you s-sure that we should do this, I d-don't think t-they'll like us if w-we do this."

"Relax saurkraut, this is gonna be hilarious," Rude whispered.

"_What_ is going to be hilarious?" Knowledge questioned in a tone that said she already knew what was being planned.

"Relax braniac, I'm just gonna mess up their faces with marker, no big deal."

"W-We r-really shouldn't do this."

"Listen to your sister Rude," Knowledge warned.

"Who's gonna stop me? You?" Rude knew she was nowhere near as strong as Brave, but she knew that Knowledge wasn't going to win an Olympic medal anytime soon.

"That, would be me!" Rude turned around to see, that's right, Brave looming over her.

Before she knew it, Rude was in a headlock, with Brave's hand clamped over her mouth to keep her quiet.

Timid found herself between Brave and Knowledge. "I-I t-tried to talk her out of it..."

She was stopped as Knowledge put her hand on Timid's shoulder. "I don't blame you dear. But next time you see Rude with a marker, let me know, okay."

Timid solemnly nodded her head.

"And you and I are going to have a little chat, about the consequences of pulling childish pranks on innocent victims." Brave handed over Rude to Knowledge, who took hold of Rude's earlobe and dragged her away, while Brave continually kicked Rude in the butt, still covering the orange emotions mouth.

* * *

About two hours later, Naga, Raven, and Beast Boy woke up, fully rested.

"Dude, good call on the nap."

"No prob."

"I will admit, it was... refreshing."

"Okay we're ready to go," Beast Boy said after stretching out.

Raven lead them too forbidden door, which placed them back on the Tower roof.

"Dudes, how long have we been in there?" Beast Boy noticed that the sun was much higher than when they went in.

"About... six hours," Raven told them after looking at her communicator.

"Six hours? Dude I'm starving."

"Well get something to eat then," Naga told him.

"Oh yeah, heh-heh."

When each of them got into the common room, they noticed that it was surprisingly empty, along with the rest of the Tower.

"Hey look, there's a note on the fridge."

"What does it say?"

Raven took the note and read it out loud:

_"Dear friends,_

_Since you have been in Raven's mind for quite some time; me, Robin, and Cyborg have gone to the indoor trade market or 'the grocery store,' as boyfriend Robin put it, so expect us to be gone for a while._

_Love, your friend Starfire"_

"Well at least we know where they are," Raven said.

"Wonder how long they've been gone?" Beast Boy asked.

"At least half an hour," Naga said, sitting at the computer with a video feed of the missing three's exit. The atomic clock reading time of departure, 12:20.

Raven seated herself on the couch, reading one of her usual books, while Naga and Beast Boy were locked in epic combat on Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

After about ten minutes though, the games became boring and Raven finished her book.

The three remaining Titans just sat in the living room. Nothing to do. Absolute quiet. Raven was meditating in the middle of the room, Beast Boy was laying on the floor with his legs propped up on the couch, and Naga was leaning the back of a chair against a wall.

The only sound that came from within the room was the clock ticking.

_Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock_

"AAAGGGHHH! I can't take it anymore! This boredom is killing me!"

"Then do something," Naga told him.

"There's nothing to do. All the video games have been played, there's nothing good ON Demand."

"Go somewhere then," Raven said, annoyed beyond her normal limits with Beast Boy's complaining.

"So where do you guys wanna go?"

Naga and Raven just stared at Beast Boy and said in unison "what do you mean _we_?"

"Common guys, you can't tell me you'd be happy here just doing nothing?"

Though it's true that meditation had reached the limits of it's usefulness, and they were both equally as bored as Beast Boy, they weren't going to own up to it.

"Where do you wanna go?" Raven reluctantly asked through gritted teeth.

"Well I was thinking we could take each other to places we'd like to go."

"Hm, not a bad idea," Naga admitted.

"So what'd you guys have in mind?"

_They won't like anything we pick_, Frostbite and Timid both said.

Soon they all left, leaving a note for the other three incase they came back, with Naga and Raven saying that they'll think about where they want to go.

* * *

Beast Boy's choice of activity didn't really surprise them. It was the recently opened vegan restaurant called, "Veggie House."

The decorum was better than Naga and Raven had expected. They had expected a hippie style décor, with dirt floors and people going barefoot, but it looked like a normal restaurant. Though it wasn't something they would jump for joy over. The hostess led them over to a C-shaped booth.

For drinks, Beast Boy had gotten a blended smoothy of about every kind of tropical fruit imaginable, Naga had gotten a simple strawberry/mango blend, and Raven just had green tea.

When their waiter asked for their orders Raven had a simple salad, Beast Boy ordered a personal cheeseless vegetarian pizza, and Naga ordered the assorted veggie kabobs.

After they ordered, an awkward silence radiated from their booth.

"So Naga, where're you from?" Beast Boy said trying to break the tension.

Naga just stared down at the table.

"I'm sorry, that was completely insensitive of me, I was just curious..."

"It's okay, I'm fine," Naga reassured them.

Knowing that when he joined the Titans, questions like this would be inevitable, Naga took a deep breath and braced himself for the emotional turmoil.

"I was born and raised in Shard City, in Washington. My dad was born there, and my mom was too, but her family moved there from Cairo, in Egypt."

"Have you ever been there?" Raven asked.

"Just a few times, for vacation. So where're you guys from?"

Beast Boy told him about how he was born in Africa, but lived all over the world, how he was bitten by a green monkey and gained his powers, how his parents died in a boating accident, and of how he joined the Doom Patrol. Raven told Naga about how she was raised by the monks of Azarath, of how she, along with her friends, banished Trigon back to his own dimension. They both told him about how they became Titans.

* * *

After they had eaten their food and payed the bill, they went to Raven's "hangout," location.

It was a dingy looking café/bookstore, with a sign on it that said "The Crescent Moon." The windows were tinged black and there were no lights inside, so every table had a lit candle on it.

Raven had lead them to her "usual seat." An extra dark corner of the room.

Beast Boy sat drinking a coffee, Raven had a book in hand, and Naga just made the flame on their table's candle grow brighter then dimmer. Brighter then dimmer. Brighter then dimmer. And so on.

"Can you please not do that, I'm trying to read," Raven said, irritated by the fluctuations in her reading light.

Naga stopped. He looked over his shoulder, taking glances at the depressing goths sitting behind them.

_Welcome home Frostbite_, Airheart said sarcastically, poking fun at Frostbite's inherent pessimism.

When Naga browsed the book section, all he found was gothic romance novels.

Before going back to his table with the others, he went up to the counter and asked for a cup of ice. No drink. Just a cup filled to the brim with ice.

Beast Boy and Raven just stared as he chomped away at the ice cubes. When he exhaled, snowflakes started to coat the candle holder.

When they left, Beast Boy and Naga had to shield their eyes from the immense increase of light on the outside. Raven gave a small smirk under her hood at their disorientation.

When they were about to take off, a small girl with her mother saw the three.

"Mommy mommy, there's the monster man," She said refering to Naga.

When the mother saw him, she tightened her grasp around her child's arm and quickly hurried away.

Soon a young couple walked by.

"That's funny, I thought that the zoo wasn't supposed to let the animals outside of their cage," the man said while his girlfriend just laughed.

It was a triple insult. Beast Boy's animal powers; Naga's bestial forms; and possibly Raven's demonic heritage.

Naga bared his fangs in snarl, ready to strike down the arrogant people, but Raven had stopped him with her black energy tendrils.

"Naga, you can't let the words of ignorant people get to you so easy," she said.

When Naga saw the couple get to their car, he noticed that the license plate wasn't from Jump City, or even California.

"Tourists. Figures," Raven mused.

"Well lets give them something to remember Jump City by," Naga said, an evil grin playing itself across his face.

Squeezing his palm inside he trenchcoat, multiple spikes made out of stone placed themselves under the tires. When the couple started their car, the spikes reacted to the change in pressure and popped all four tires.

When the guy got out, the spikes retreated back into the street. When he saw what happened to his tires, he started swearing as if the world were ending again.

Naga just turned his back while the couple continued to exhale profanity. When he, Raven, and Beast Boy were a safe distance away, they landed on a rooftop, where Raven scolded him on the reckless, immature, and overall pointlessness of his actions, while Beast Boy found the whole thing to be one of the funniest spectacles he'd ever seen.

"Come on Raven, you can't seriously think that what he did wasn't funny. And besides, the guy totally had it coming," Beast boy reasoned.

Though Raven would never freely admit, being around non-Azarathians had had major effects on her. She was starting to find the misfortune of others to be rather humorful. As long as it was in a comedic way. And seeing a jerks get what's coming to them was one of those humorful things. But she hadn't forgotten about Azar's teachings and kept a straight face.

"Can we just get to what ever Naga wants to do?" she said while rubbing her temples.

Before they could go anywhere, all at once, their communicators started going off.

In the screen were the faces of Robin, Cybor, and Starfire.

"Naga, Beast Boy, Raven, where've you guys been?" Robin questioned.

"Dude, didn't you get the letter we left you guys?"

Starfire went offscreen and came back with the note.

Beast Boy told them that they only had one more stop to make.

"All right, but after you guys finish, I want you back at the Tower."

* * *

Back at the Tower, after their communicators were switched off, the monitor came to life.

When Robin went over to the console, the Justice League's faces came on.

Batman was the first to speak. "Robin, after going over the data you sent us, and after dealing with cadmus and the military, we've been able to secure the last remaining files of Naga's life. I'm sending copies of them to you now via zeta beam. By the way, tell Naga that I said thanks for the info on Black Mask."

Soon a teleportation beam sent over multiple dossiers stamped with big red letters "TOP SECRET!" and "RESTRICTED TO AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY!"

Batman cut the communication.

The three just stared over the folders, contemplating whether or not they should look into the unknown.

"I believe we should wait until our friends have returned from the hanging out, before going into Naga's files," Starfire advised.

Robin and Cyborg silently agreed and walked away from the files.

* * *

Beast Boy and Raven followed Naga through a forest, to what seemed well beyond the city limits. Naga jumping from one tree branch to the next, Beast Boy following in falcon form, and Raven on an energy platform.

Beast Boy landed on the energy platform and shifted back to human form. "Where do you think he's taking us to?"

"I don't know, but we should keep our guards up just in case."

Eventually Naga came to a stop in front of a stone wall.

"So you lead us here just to see a wall. Great"

Naga just turned his head half-way to them and just smirked.

Placing his hands on the a bare patch of ground, Naga focused his energy into the barrier in front of him. Rumbling started to come from the ground around them.

A tunnel emerged from out of the wall, leading into all-consuming darkness.

Requesting the two to follow him, Naga lit the way with a ball of fire that stayed two steps ahead of them.

"Uh, dude, where are you taking us?" Beast Boy nervously questioned.

"Here."

When Naga sent the fire ball out farther in front of them, it illuminated to show their destination. A giant cavern filled with crystals of varying colors, with a spiralling walkway that led to a pool at the very bottom.

"Whoa."

"Dude."

Both of them were at a loss for words. Awestruck by the cavern's beauty.

"Impressive isn't it?" Naga said. Clearly knowing the level of awesomeness that they were beholding.

"How in the world did you find this place?" Beast Boy asked.

"I found this a few days before I made my début in Jump. I stayed here before I became a Titan."

While Beast Boy and Raven looked over the edge to the pool at the bottom, Naga dashed past them and dived head first into the pool, sending the water from the splash all the way up to Raven and Beast Boy.

"Come on jump in!" he yelled up to them.

Beast Boy decided to join the fun and jumped off of the ledge, transforming into a dolphin mid-dive.

Raven, on the otherhand, remained firmly rooted to the spot she was standing on.

She was, until a stone pillar hit her in the back, knocking her over the ledge.

To be nice, and avoid being sued for unintentional murder, Naga turned the area under Raven into a harmless snow drift.

When she came to the surface, the water around her was starting to boil and turn to mist.

Climbing out she started to ring her robe, but Naga saved her the trouble and pulled the excess water out of her clothes, instantely drying her.

After swimming in the crystal clear pool, Beast Boy and Naga dried themselves off. They all got out of the cave, and headed back for the Tower.

While flying back to Titan's Tower, each of them contemplated the newfound respect for each other, that spending time together had given them.

* * *

Walking through the Tower halls, the previous tension that seemed to follow everywhere, seemed to disappear.

When they came into the living room, they found Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire sitting on the couch.

Without a word being said, all eyes turned to the files stored on the countertop.

They already knew what these files were, but the question was, should they look.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading. Please review. And I will be working my ass off on the next chapter.


	8. Revelation

**New Guy Naga**

**Disclaimer: **Again, I am thinking of completely original characters with no tie ins to the DC Universe, so I am not using real names intentionally.

Also if you have any questions about my story, please review and I'll answer them to the best of my ability. But please use a penname, I can't respond to "Guest" reviews.

_**Chapter 8: Revelation**_

The six heroes stared at the file pile as if it were a dying animal. No one touched them. They just sat there. The first one to make any sort of movement was Naga. He grabbed the files, not sure if they were real, or just a figment of his imagination.

The emotions that Raven read off of him were a mix of confusion, fear, hope, and guilt.

He sat on the couch and laid the dossiers on the table in front of him. The past that was robbed from him, all there.

When he opened the cover, the first thing that he saw was a large picture of his original self. Slightly paler complexion and hazel eyes. Next to the picture were his statistics.

**Full Name:** Omar Muhammed Masterson

**Place of Birth:** Shard City, Washington, USA

**Date of Birth:** April 18, 1997

**Age:** 15

**Height:** 5 feet 7 inches ≈ 170 centimeters

**Weight/Mass: **133.8 lb ≈ 60.7 kilograms

**Hair Color: **Dark Brown

**Eye Color: **Hazel

**Immediate Family:** Abraham Masterson (Father), Abia Masterson née Salaam (Mother), Jenna Masterson (Sister)

**Reason(s) for Study:** Powers could provide useful new weapons; possible threat to humanity

**Notes:**

* Intended to be part of Cadmus Project Planet. Omar's DNA was to be extracted to create clones with similar abilities. However, before extraction could begin, Omar, codenamed Planet, went rogue, and laid waist to our labs. Project Planet has since been scrapped and any information on it and/or Planet has since been destroyed.  
* Planet seems to have dissociative identity disorder (DID), a.k.a. multiple personality disorder (MPD), as he often refers to himself as "we" or "us."

* * *

The Titans looked over all of the files. Medical records, personal files. Everything.

In the medical files it stated that Naga, from birth had a mild case of scoliosis, but was mysteriously cured with no medical intervention.

Along with his medical history, there were various photos taken of him for school pictures. A lot of them had him smiling a genuine smile.

Under personal information, it stated that during the year of 2009-2010, there were multiple detentions and even a suspension. "Seventh grade was not my best year," Naga joked after going through the disciplinary records.

The last photo they found was one of Naga, his parents, and his sister together.

Naga was standing in the middle. It was easy to see that he was slightly taller than both of his parents.

Upon seeing the photo of his deceased loved ones, loving tears escaped from his eyes.

"I believe that friend Naga requires the 'alone time.' We should leave him to deal with any of 'the issues,'" Starfire suggested.

The rest of the Titans left the living room, though they still listened through the doors and on the camera mounted on Cyborg's arm.

* * *

_I know you miss them dearly Naga, but I hope that you do not allow such matters to take their toll on you_, Marina said.

_I'm fine Marina. It's funny, in only half a year, I've almost forgotten what I looked like before I met you guys_.

_But I can still sense that there is much rage in your heart_.

_It's true. I'll never forgive Eiling for what he took from me, and if I ever did see him, I'd make him pay with his life_.

_But today we must live in the now and not dwell on matters of the past or the possibilities of the future_, Darkvolt said, trying to ease Naga's troubled conscious.

When Naga moved towards the door, the Titans ran further into the hall, trying to act natural. Needless to say they weren't putting on very good performances:

Robin was pretending to go through report files.

Cyborg was making it look like he was inspecting the Tower's systems on his arm.

Raven was faking meditation.

Beast Boy was playing with a paddleball.

And Starfire was half-heartedly petting Silkie.

"You guys can drop the act, I know you were watching me," Naga said, not very impressed with their not so subtle act.

"Are you going to be okay Naga?" Starfire asked, concerned about her friends emotional state.

"I'm going to be fine guys. You don't have to worry about me." Naga didn't want anyone to get worried about him.

Fortunately, before they could begin a string of "are you sure?" and "if there's anything we can do," the Tower alarm went off.

When they checked the monitor, a red dot kept flashing downtown. At the city council building.

* * *

At the city council building, all of the council members, even the mayor were being held hostage. Tied up in chains.

By Punk Rocket.

He told them that his demands were simple.

The City would become an anarchy and change it's new anthem to the Sound of Chaos.

When the council refused, Punk Rocket gave them a choice. Follow his demands, or else he would bring down the house. Literally.

But before the choice could be made, a birdarang flew past him, knocking him on the head.

When the anarchist turned around, he found the Titans standing in the doorway.

Reacting quickly, Punk Rocket hit multiple chords on his guitar, sending sound waves all over the building.

Cyborg and Starfire sent repeated sonic blasts and starbolt attacks at the punk rocker, but he just used his guitar to either redirect them, or completely dissipate them.

Punk got on his guitar and started riding it like a surfboard out of the building.

"Naga, you free the hostages, we'll go after Punk Rocket. Titans Go!"

Naga faced the hostages as the Titans ran after the anarchist.

The hostages still panicked.

Naga spread his arms out to both sides and created ice shards in the air. Mentally controlling the needle sharp objects, he launched them at the civilians.

The chains that binded the people, were effortlessly cut, while not even putting a scratch on the politicians.

He then made a fireball between his fangs and blasted a hole in one of the walls, providing an alternative way out.

* * *

Meanwhile outside, Punk Rocket reached a suitcase that he had kept hidden in a bush. It's contents consisted of a cylindrical device with an optic scope mounted on top of it. When he attached the device to his guitar, neon blue lights started to run down its length. Aiming the end of his guitar at the Titans, Punk Rocket struck a chord, causing a bright blue laser to come flying out.

Soon a rainstorm of blue lasers came out of the guitar.

However, all of their attention was turned towards an explosion coming out of the side of the council building. Soon the council members and the mayor came streaming out, followed by the absent hero.

"Naga do you ever think you could be a little less... explosive?" Raven sarcastically said.

"Then things would be really boring," he retorted.

"Okay, here's our situation in a nutshell. Punk Rocket's guitar can fire powerful sonic waves, but now he's used a device to make it fire lasers," Robin told Naga as the Titans dodged more shots at them.

They soon learned the true destructive power of the lasers, when Naga formed a stone barrier to defend himself. The laser on the other hand, had little difficulty in destroying the wall of earth.

"Titans scatter!"

Starfire took hold of Cyborg and followed Raven into the air, Naga tunneled underground, Robin got on his R-Cycle, and Beast Boy turned into a cheetah and avoided the laser fire sent at him.

The five founding Titans attacked with all their power, but the guitar's sonic waves, completely deflected the starbolts, dark energy, and sonic blasts, and the laser gun feature destroyed Robin's projectiles.

Punk Rocket started to surf on his guitar when an earthquake hit the area.

From where he stood, four stone chains rose from the ground and on the ends of the chains were serpentine heads. Rising from between the chains, Naga came out.

He set the heads after Punk, but he effortlessly dodged their attempts at subduing him.

Robin rode up to Naga on his R-Cycle. "Naga, I want you and Raven to use your powers to trap Punk Rocket." Robin went over to Raven and told her the same thing. Soon Punk Rocket was being chased by hydra heads and dark energy arms.

But even though their constructs were manueverable, Punk Rocket was able to keep his distance by using his guitar's sonic waves and laser chords. Beast Boy and Starfire tried to help in trapping the anarchist, but they were having just as bad luck.

"You can't beat the sound of Chaos!"

Nothing the Titans did worked. Throw a projectile at him, he destroys it. Use an energy attack, his sonic waves redirect it. And this time there was no amplifier for him to crash.

Naga tried to bring Punk down by having the hydra heads breath lightning, fire, and ice at him. But the sound waves dissipated the black electricity, extinguished the flames, and shattered the ice beams. To top it all off, the continuous laser blows and sonic strums were starting to shatter his constructs. Punk Rocket just laughed maniacally at the heroes misfortune.

But while he was gloating, Naga had an idea. Raising a sewer pipe from out of the ground, Naga planned to coat Punk Rocket in sewer water and freeze him solid. However, the guitar surfer could easily avoid the muck water.

"It's going to take more than some sludge to stop the Sound of Chaos!"

Beast Boy flew down to Naga and switched back to human form. "Dude, can't you freeze water from a distance?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

Beast Boy whispered something inaudible to Naga.

Soon, both of them were back in the fight. Beast Boy as a pterodactyl. Naga controlling the hydra heads. When Punk Rocket flew over the spot where the sewer water was leaking into the ground.

Putting Beast Boy's plan into action, Naga raised his hands in the air, forcing a glacier formed from the water saturating the ground. This caught Rocket off guard, forcing him to make a hap-hazard turn to the right, only to be met by another glacier.

Punk Rocket found himself cornered.

"Show's over Punk, time to take a bow."

"But I haven't even given my encore!" Punk Rocket took the laser device and pressed a hidden button on the side. The device started to make a low whiring sound that quickly grew louder and louder.

Cyborg started to scan the device with his left eye.

"I'm picking up a large amount of fusion energy build up in that thing. Enough to obliterate most of the city!"

"And that's my cue to leave! Thank you Jump City! Or at least what's going to be left of it." Punk threw the device on the ground and air surfed away from the city.

"Cyborg try and disarm that thing!" Robin commanded.

Using his blow torch fingers, Cyborg attempted to disarm the fusion grenade.

After a few tries the whirring coming from the device started to grow fainter. Fainter. Stopped.

Each of the Titans let out a relieved sigh, and Cyborg triumphently wiped his brow.

But they were cut short when the machine started to make loud beeping noises. And a timer that started to read 20-19-18.

Knowing that they wouldn't be able to disarm it in time, Robin told Naga and Raven to try and contain the blast.

Naga wrapped the bomb in a sphere made out several layers of mud, concrete, and ice. Raven followed up with an obsidian energy sphere.

5-4-3-2-1-0

Fusion energy was seeping out of the cracks in the barriers, forcing Raven and Naga to reinforce their shields. Even from inside an incredibly strong, mentally controlled sphere; tremors could be felt coming from the explosion.

The other four were ducked behind the T-Car, knowing that if the explosion were to be released, it would completely obliterate them. But it still gave them a sense of security.

Beast Boy had transformed into a gopher, tunneled underground, and poked his head out, while wearing a cartoonishly small army helmet, which obscured most of his vision.

Knowing that they couldn't keep this up and that the explosion would leak out of the force field when they would inevitably let the shield down, Naga decided that drastic times called for drastic measures.

Dropping his part of the force field, Naga drew in the power of the bomb into his arms and legs.

Learning from his previous attempt at taking in heat, he didn't absorb the power all at once, but kept a steady stream of fire flowing out in a burning circle around him.

Eventually the energy from the fusion grenade reached the last of its reserves. And by streaming out the fire while taking it in, Naga wasn't as severely burned as last time, though still exhausted.

After Naga picked himself up, the Titans came up to congratulate him. And to also tell him to put the ground back to the way it was. Pointing out the broken hydra chains and sewer pipe still spitting out water.

* * *

When they got back to the Tower, Raven healed any minor injuries they sustained, and Robin went over to the computer to monitor the city for any signs of Punk Rocket. The rest of the Titans just relaxed with doing what they would usually do. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Naga were attempting to kill each other on Gamestation XL, Starfire was cooking some alien dish, and Raven was meditating.

About an hour later an e-mail presented itself on the screen.

Everyone gathered around Robin and the console.

The e-mail said:

"_To the Teen Titans_

_Dear Titans,  
On behalf of myself, the city council, and the city, I would like to show my utmost gratitude with a dinner at one of the finest restaurants in the city: The Arabian Night. Dress apropriately and I shall see you at 8:00 pm._

_Sincerely, the Mayor_"

"Dude, isn't The Arabian Night supposed to be nearly impossible to get into?"

"You can only get in if you know the owner," Robin answered.

"So what does he mean by 'dress appropriately?'" Naga asked.

"He means shoes and a suit," Raven stated.

**"NOOOOOOOOOO!"**

* * *

Over the next few hours the Titans were at the mall searching for the proper formal evening wear.

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin tested out about six different suits, and outside of Starfire's dressing room was a large mound of dresses.

The only ones that were less than enthusiastic were Naga and Raven. Repeatedly Naga had fought to keep his trench coat, but he was inevitably vetoed. He knew that the option of not wearing shoes was completely out of the question. The suit he picked was the only one he tried on. One time Starfire attempted to get Raven in a neon pink evening gown. The sorceress seemed to wince in pain just from coming into contact with the dress, which was all the more reason for Cyborg and Beast Boy to take a picture of her shoving the dress away.

Eventually Starfire came, followed by a mortified Raven, who had her shopping bag clamped tightly shut.

"I can never unsee the horrors I just witnessed," the empath said walking out of the store.

At one point they tried to take Naga into a hair salon to cut down his afro, but he stood his ground outside of the salon. Literally.

* * *

At quarter past seven they got back to the Tower where they prepared for the big night.

The guys sat in the living room, all dressed up, waiting for Starfire and Raven. Naga kept tugging at his black necktie with one hand, and his dress shoes with another. "Ugh, I feel like a stiff."

Their attention was drawn to the living room doors being activated.

They turned around to see starfire in the same neon pink dress she tried to get Raven in, with red eye shadow, hoop earrings, and flaming red lipstick.

Robin found himself in a trance just from looking at the other-worldly goddess. Which means he didn't notice the drool sliding down the side of his face, or the fact that the other three were silently snickering at his blunder. He eventually regained conscioussness when Raven walked in, wearing a midnight blue evening gown, with eyeshadow and lipstick like Starfire, only in shades of blue, and no earrings.

At about quarter to eight, they piled into the T-Car. Beast Boy riding shotgun; Starfire sitting _very_ close to Robin, with Raven & Naga crammed in the back with them.

About half-way through the drive, Naga had passed out, and the others started to slowly nod off.

Finding the perfect pranking opportunity, Cyborg hooked a wire up from the side of his head to the stereo system in the car. After searching through his databanks, he found the perfect song. Rock the Casbah, by the Clash.

Setting up the song to play at the height of the chorus, Cyborg set the volume to 'Super Crazy Loud Mode.'

After making sure each of them was asleep, and lowering the volume intake on his cybernetic ear, Cyborg mentally counted down from five.

4-3-2-1

**ROCK THE CASBAH! ROCK THE CASBAH! SHARIF DON'T LIKE IT!  
ROCK THE CASBAH! ROCK THE CASBAH! SHARIF DON'T LIKE IT!**

Instantely, all of the sleeping Titans jumped in their seats and hit the roof of the car with their heads.

Rubbing the sore spots on their brused craniums, all eyes immediately glared at the chuckling man-bot.

"Can't do anything to the driver," he said, using that as his cheating death card.

Naga started to write something down in a book titled "the Darwin Awards: Countdown to Extinction." A book about random blunders by idiots across the world.

He passed it to Starfire and Robin who both chuckled at what was written. Beast Boy openely laughed. Raven still remained impassive, but gave a satisfied "hmph."

Curiosity overtook Cyborg and he kept asking to see what was so funny.

"Sorry, can't do anything to the driver," Beast Boy said, handing the book back to Naga.

"Besides, you'd be better off not knowing," he said getting the book back.

"Come on. I can take a joke way better than the next guy. _Especially if the next guy is Beast Boy_." The last part he muttered under his breath.

"I'll show you when we get to the restaurant. But you'll really wish that you'd have listened to me."

* * *

As the name implied, the restaurant "the Arabian Night," was themed with middle-eastern and north-African influences. Including: Egyptian, Moroccan, Israeli, Iranian, etc.

When they all got out, Naga handed the book to Cyborg.

When he read what Naga had wrote down, he looked like he was about to be sick.

On a blank page it read "Chrome dome pulls prank on friends, and ends up as paperweight," and under it was a detailed image of the others turning Cyborg into a ceramic rose in a _very detailed_ step-by-step process.

"Should've listened," Naga said as he took the book back as Cyborg fell on his back, unconscious.

When Cyborg picked himself up and followed the others into the restaurant, they were all greeted by the mayor, who led them to a far corner of the room.

"So what's the occasion Mr. Mayor?" Robin asked when they were all seated.

"Like it said in my message. On behalf of myself and the city, I would like to thank the Titans for protecting the city with so much crime these past few days."

Raven couldn't help but stir in her seat. She was able to sense when a person was lying or when they weren't revealing the full truth. And right now the mayor was doing the latter.

"Sir, there's another reason you brought us here, and it's pointless to try and hide it."

The mayor instantely remembered that the empath could tell if someone was lying, so there would be no use in trying to draw his reasons out. The joyful façade he wore now gave way to one of nervousness and stress.

"As you know, the people of the city are not too... accepting of your newest member. They've been putting pressure on me to somehow get rid of you. I don't want to but..."

"But nothing! You tell the people that I'm not going to be pushed around!" At this point Naga had risen out of his chair. The flames of the candles at their table had risen to frightening sizes. The effect his rage had on his powers.

After storming out, he could hear Inferno speaking to him.

_Show these humans the extent of the destruction you can bring!_

Going with the fire beast's wishes, Naga raised his hands to the sky. Instantaneously lightning filled the sky, pouring off of his arms and filling his eyes. Using various arm gestures, Naga made a giant snake form out of the lightning in the sky.

Naga brought the construct down towards himself, where he jumped on top of the head and rode off.

Before the others could give chase Raven told them that it would be best for him to have some alone time.

* * *

Riding away from the ungrateful citizens of Jump City, Naga flew off to his cave. While thinking the same thing over and over.

_Ungrateful! No good! Pathetic! Weak!_

He pulled out the picture of his family that he had kept hidden in his tuxedo. When he looked at it, tears of pain escaped his eyes.

Looking at the smiling faces of his parents and sister, there was only one thing he could think.

_I'm sorry_.

* * *

The ride back home was one filled with silence.

When they got home they changed into their uniforms, and tried to unwind in the living room.

"Well that was a bust," Beast Boy said while discarding his tie.

Suddenly the faces of the Titans East appeared on the monitor.

"Hey Sparky. What's up?"

"Hey Bee," said Cyborg faking enthusiam.

"Hola Señorita Starfire!" said Más y Menos shoving Bee out of the way.

Starfire couldn't help but giggle at the twin's charm. Robin couldn't help the jealousy rising in his face.

"Hey Robin," said Speedy.

Robin's jealousy faded as he said hello to his rival.

They all noticed that Aqualad looked particularly sour.

"So how's it going with you guys?" Bee asked, asserting herself back in front of the monitor.

"We're doing good. You?"

"Fine. Say, where's the rookie?"

"He's... not here," Raven said.

"I'll bet he's off killing more fish," Aqualad stated.

"I take it your still upset about that," Beast Boy joked.

Aqualad continued to just pout.

"So where is he?"

The founding Titans told the Titans East about the recent events, and Naga's departure.

"So what are ya' going to do. It doesn't seem like the people will be accepting him anytime soon."

After sharing meaningful looks they all had the same idea.

"After we find him, we're going to announce publicly that Naga is one of us," Robin told them.

* * *

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Jump City, a figure walks through the woods, sobbing over his existence.

Rage dwelled in his heart. But also sadness. Pain. Agony.

And seemingly unknown to him, frost spread from where he stood. Shriveling up any and all vegetation he came into contact with. Whole trees were coated in ice within minutes.

Snowy blue fur grew across his body. His snout extended. A tail appeared at the base of his spine. His nails grew into claws. His eyes went from red to dark yellow. Sub-zero icicles extended down his back.

Frostbite was released.

Before he could move though, the memory dumping process kicked in.

Naga instantely remembered his life. He remembered where he was. Who he was.

But that did little to soothe the hate that housed his soul. If anything, it only made him more enraged. At least as an instinct driven beast, he could live life in peaceful ignorance.

_With the power I hold, the humans should be cowering in fear of me!_ he thought.

He mentally blocked out the guardians voices from his mind. Not wanting to hear a lecture.

Running to the top of a hill, silhouetted against a crescent moon, Naga let out a primal howl.

The hunter was awake.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Thank you for keeping up with my story.

Like I said up top. Please review. I'll answer any and all questions to the best of my ability.

Also I couldn't wait 'til the end so I want to give you a preview of the sequel to this story right now.

"Super Smash Titans Brawl" instead of angst and comfort, this story will be more action and humor based.  
Basically the Titans all get together for a contest to see who's the strongest.

Also, I may not be on for a while. I'm going on vacation to Indiana, and I don't have a laptop.


	9. Frost

**New Guy Naga**

I'M BAAAAACK! Indiana was nice.

Standard Disclaimers/Notes: I own nothing. This fic is purely for entertainment's sake. Please review.

_**Chapter 9:**** Frost**_

Naga ran through the forest. Rage in his heart. Sorrow in his eyes.

But suddenly he had an all new feeling. Debilitating pain in his shoulders. Looking over his right shoulder, he saw a small trail of smoke coming from a bleeding wound. When he pulled the projectile out of him, he found a single buckshot.

He encased the wound in ice, beginning the accelerated healing process.

Using the night vision he gained with his lupine form, he saw a hunter with a shotgun pointed directly at him. The hunter fired a second shot at him. However, because he was prepared, Naga was able to coat the buckshot with ice. Using his Cryokinesis, Naga stopped the ice coated bullet in mid-air.

Obviously the gun wielding idiot was too far away to see what happened as he kept moving closer. If he knew what he was firing at, he would have fainted just from the sight.

When Naga came into his field of vision, fear filled every part of his body.

Repeatedly he fired shots off at the blue werewolf, but each time he gracefully dodged the attacks.

Naga moved in close and used his long forearms to grab the hunter by the vest. He reared his other arm up. Ready to kill.

Unfortunately, because of the memory dump, he was still human in mind. And because of his morality, he couldn't bring his hand down to strike the fatal blow.

Instead he brought the hunter up to his face and forced him to look directly into his eyes.

In a last ditch effort to escape, the fear stricken hunter fired off his flare gun directly at Naga's chest.

When the smoke cleared, he found that he was still a foot off the ground. Still in Naga's grip.

The flare gun did have an effect. Areas of his fur were set on fire, and blood was coming out of a huge gash on his left side. But this didn't hinder him. It only made him more enraged.

In anger, Naga used his brute strength to throw the hunter up against a tree. Causing a sickening _crunch_ to be heard.

Feeling that he had done enough, he ran off into the woods, leaving the man for dead.

* * *

The Titans sat in uncomfortable silence.

Beast Boy and Cyborg weren't even arguing over tofu or meat.

Raven wasn't reading.

Starfire wasn't making a Tamaranean dish.

Robin wasn't even thinking up date plans for Starfire.

No one was doing anything.

They knew that they would have to go find Naga soon.

Robin rose up to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of the alarm going off.

_That thing seems to have a habit of going off at the worst moments_, he thought.

* * *

When the Titans arrived in the woods, they found an ambulance and the forest rangers together.

They also saw a man in a torn vest being loaded onto the ambulance.

When they asked him what had happened to him, all he responded with was deep, rapid breathing, and, "b-big... b-big. So-so cold."

"I'm afraid he's gone into a psychiatric shock. He'll need intense therapy before he can do anything," the nurse told them.

They decided to see if the ranger had any idea of what had happened.

"My best guess, He probably ran into a bear. They're the only large mammals around here."

Robin told Raven to search the victim's mind to see what the attacker looked like.

Raven placed her hands on the man's temples. Searching through his thoughts, she started to re-live the attack.

However, because of the man's mental distress, the images were blurry, and she could only make out shapes.

Like he said: what he saw was big, about seven feet tall. It was pale blue. With fangs. It stood on two feet. When she looked into the clearing image of its face, she could instantly tell who it was. Naga as Frostbite.

When she told the other's about the attacker, Robin told them to search the woods, but not to engage alone.

Beast Boy morphed into a bloodhound and went in one direction.

Starfire took to the skies for an aerial view.

Raven got into the lotus position and did a soul sweep.

Cyborg pulled out his shoulder-mounted radars.

Robin pulled out his communicator and tried to track down Naga through his own. If he still had it on him.

* * *

After hours of searching, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire gathered back at the spot they split off from. No one found anything.

"I don't understand this. We're searchin' for a seven foot tall, blue werewolf. How hard can finding him be?" Cyborg mused.

Soon Robin came back with two communicators in hand.

"When he transformed it must've fallen off him," he speculated.

"Raven, were you able to get a lock on him?" he asked.

"No, I think he put up a mental barrier. Either that, or he's left the range of my powers," she told them.

"And he must've used his powers to freeze the scent on his tracks; I couldn't pick up a smell," Beast Boy added in.

"With his powers he could be anywhere in the world. Think; where would we go if we were Naga?"

Soon a light bulb appeared over Beast Boy's head, only to flicker and go dim. Tapping on it in a frustrated manner, it came back on, restoring his idea.

Remembering the location, Beast Boy lead the others to a stone wall.

Raven figured out Beast Boy's logic, and used her telekinesis to bring the wall down. Revealing the hollow tunnel that was behind it.

Walking through the cave, guided by Star's glowing hands, they started to hear sounds coming from deep within.

Suddenly they all felt a chill through the air.

The walls were coated in ice that started to spread towards the cave's entrance. They knew they were getting closer as their breath started to become more thick.

Because her species could survive in the vacuum of space, Starfire wasn't affected by the cold, but her human teammates didn't have her fortune. In an attempt to comfort her friends, Star threw multiple starbolts at the ground, melting the ice and warming the area.

However, the ice didn't take long to re-freeze the melted areas with fresh ice. This caused Starfire to fire a continuous star-stream from her hands.

But as they got deeper, the ice grew thicker.

Knowing that the ice could spread faster than Star could melt, Raven threw an energy dome over them, blocking the effects of the tundra climate.

They eventually came into the room that Naga had taken her and Beast Boy into the previous day.

The colored diamonds that grew off the walls could pass for ice stalactites.

At the very bottom, the werewolf Naga sat on the frozen pool that occupied the floor of the cave.

His keen hearing could detect the Titans while they were at the entrance. However, he didn't confront them.

Using his cryokinesis, he started to generate more ice in an attempt to drive the others away.

Unfortunately, they continued to persevere in their efforts to reach him.

Just when the Titans were about to reach him, gigantic ice shards grew from the ground, surrounding him.

"Why are you here?" Naga questioned.

"To bring you home friend," Starfire told him.

"Nothing will change. We'll always be hated. Nothing will ever change that." Naga still hadn't taken his eyes off of the frozen pond. In the reflection he could see himself in his human form. But he could also see the faces of the guardians.

Upon seeing his curse, the area where Naga was watching his reflection collapsed in on itself.

"Naga, you have to calm down. Control your emotions," Raven told him in her monotone.

"A lecture won't work on me Raven. You can't tell me things will get better, or how I shouldn't let my emotions dominate me. I don't want to hear it."

"I'm sorry dude, but you don't have a say in the matter."

Each of the Titans with a long-range attack open fired on Naga, attempting to use the sheer force to knock him unconscious.

The boy in werewolf's clothing was unprepared for the barrage attack, and was forced back so hard, there was an imprint of his body in the wall.

His lapse in concentration was enough to shatter the ice and bring the room back to survivable conditions.

"Titans. Take him down."

All five of them went after the werewolf with the intent of subduing him so they could take him back to the Tower.

When Naga was able to get back into concentration, he was greeted by a metal fist implanting itself into his gut, forcing the wind out of his lungs.

When Cyborg jumped back, a green kangaroo launched itself feet-first at his form.

However, Naga reacted at just the right time.

Rolling from out of the green kangaroo's gigantic feet, he tackled Robin, pinning him to the ground.

Drawing his bo staff, the only non-meta-human Titan jammed the stick into Naga's chest, and catapulted him across the room.

Twisting his body through the air, Naga was able to land on his feet with his back to the others.

This meant that he couldn't anticipate the starbolts being hurled repeatedly at him.

Learning from previous experiences with his various forms, the Titans had learned that the best way to defeat them was to keep as much distance between themselves and him as possible.

Naga shot off repeated blasts of frost breath, which could freeze whole boulders solid. Unfortunately, all of his shots were thrown off course because of the repeated blasts.

Soon frozen disks started to form around his hand.

Hurling the chakrams like frisbees, he succeeded in landing a square shot to Starfire's chest, which encased her in a block of ice. She was able to free herself before the ice prison smashed into the ground.

When Robin put his focus back on the fight, he had very little time to react as Naga had managed to place himself about three feet from where his stood.

Naga kept using his razor sharp claws to attack the boy wonder.

Robin kept using his bo staff to deflect the blows but parrying against Naga's lupine strength proved to be taxing.

Finding an opening, Naga slammed the back part of his hand into Robin's side, hurling him across the room.

"Leave, NOW!"

After growing ice shards on his forelimbs, he quickly flicked his arms, sending multiple pieces of freezing shrapnel flying at the four remaining Titans.

Raven formed an energy wall in front of the group.

Unbenounced to them, Naga was controlling tentacles made of ice. Leading them through the ground behind the energy barrier.

When the tentacles reared up, they wrapped around the four remaining heroes.

Naga brought them down to eye level with himself. "I said go away."

"If you keep this up, you're just letting the people win." Beast Boy told him.

"To them I will be nothing but something for them to shun," with that he turned his back to them.

He was met with an exploding disk to the face.

In the confusion, Naga had forgotten about Robin.

Bo staff drawn, he went at Naga with unrelenting blows to the head.

Placing an exploding disk on Naga's chest, Robin jumped out-of-the-way of the explosion, which threw the werewolf against the wall of the cave.

While he was knocked out, the ice tentacles shattered, and he transformed back into his human form, still in the suit and tie he wore last night.

Raven placed him in an energy bubble and teleported them all back to the Tower.

They strapped Naga onto one of the hospital bed.

When they read the vital signs on the monitor, most of the stats read out normal, but there was a large amount of stress on his brainwaves.

"He's seems to be able to keep his human mind, but he still acts on rage," Robin speculated.

The monitors alerted them to Naga waking up from his slumber.

"How ya' feelin'?"

"Let's see. Enraged at being tied up, upset about being taken against my will, and I still feel like a stiff," referring to the suit he was still wearing.

"If we let you out, will you stay and listen to reason?" Raven questioned.

"Fine," Naga said, knowing that since the straps inhibited his powers, he would be stuck there if he didn't comply.

When he was freed, they gave him a pair of his usual clothes and left the room so he could change. When he was decent they came back in.

"So why did you bring me back?" he questioned, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You're a Titan, you're one of us, that's why," Robin told him.

"No offense, but right now that seems just like an empty title."

"It may be to you, but without us, the city would never last. We are needed here, and so are you," Starfire said.

"We can understand your pain; but just running away from it isn't going to help you in any way," Raven said.

Naga just rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you have to face your problems, even if you don't want to," Beast Boy chimed in.

_Listen to your friends Omar. Their words are the truth_, Marina said.

Naga didn't even get upset that Marina had used his real name.

* * *

It was a bright morning in Jump City. A huge crowd had amassed itself in front of city hall. Only this crowd was really an angry mob, who'd been alerted to a public announcement by the Titans.

Many of them had pictures of Naga with a "X," over his face.

Out from the front doors came the Titans; with Naga on his knees on a parade float base; his hands and feet chained up to the base of the vehicle, with one huge metal cuff around his neck.

At the sight of the fallen beast, the mob cheered at his downfall.

Robin walked up to the podium and gave the microphone a test tap.

"We are here today because of our new member Naga."

The crowd erupted into a thunderous roar of booing and jeering towards Naga, and applaud for the Titans.

"We are here because... Naga is a Titan, a hero, and a member of our family. And nothing you say shall ever make us think otherwise!" Starfire said after coming up to the microphone.

Raven used her powers to sever the chains that bound Naga to his platform.

Instantly, the entire mob started to boo the Titans along with Naga.

"Enough! We have kept this city, and you, safe for a long time. There's no reason for you to judge him any differently than us," Raven said, taking the microphone into her hand.

"Typical! The alien and the demoness stand up for the enigma!" said a voice with a heavy British accent.

For some reason, Naga and Raven both had a feeling that they had heard that voice somewhere before, but where.

"And you are?" said Cyborg in a tone that clearly expressed his irritation with the man in the blue suit that had made the remark.

"G. Gordon Godfrey."

Naga and Raven quickly remembered where they'd heard him.

He was the GBS pundit that was on his talk show when Naga had wedged the remote into the TV.

"How do we really know that this, _thing_, is even human. For all we know, he could be a full on demon!" Godfrey said, trying to rally the crowd. Needless to say, it was working.

The Titans noticed the ground below Naga's feet start to simmer.

Raven placed a hand on his shoulder's and gave him a stern yet caring look.

He took in a deep breath and his burning feet went back to room temperature.

The crowd kept jeering.

Then from out of the crowd, a molotov cocktail burst into the air, heading for the stand.

Using his pyrokinesis, Naga caught the improvised projectile in the air and dissipated it.

Waving his arm, he used a powerful wind force to knock back the crowd to reveal a man with lit blowtorch.

At that moment there were about a dozen different ideas running through his head on varying torturous punishments.

But he remembered the trust the Titans had put into him. So he simply decided to encase the man in stone from the waist down.

The police soon came and, using jackhammers, put the bomber into the back of their squad car. Naga had to put a little smirk on his face at the specatcle.

Raven placed a dome over herself & the others, and transported them into the Tower's living room, just as the mob got back into their booing routine.

"What a month," Beast Boy said as he fell back on the couch.

"Look guys, just because of... recent, events, that doesn't mean that we can't live like we usually do," Robin said.

"No. It just means that for the next, oh say, three years, none of us can leave the Tower," Naga said sarcastically.

"So how many weeks worth of food do we have?" Beast Boy asked.

"About five to six, hours," Cyborg said, laughing at his own comic genius.

"Friends, do not worry. I know of a Tamaranean technique that can make a small amount of food last for years," Starfire said, not picking up on the sarcasm.

Everyone else, even Naga, began to shuddered at the thought of what Star might do to their food.

"That's okay Star, we were just joking," Beast Boy frantically said.

_If there's one thing I'll never understand, it's why they would allow the lesser humans to treat them like crap_, Inferno said.

_Let it go Inferno_, Marina said in a calming tone.

* * *

It had been three days since the rally. And in those three days there was no crime at all.

And even though they didn't have to worry about criminals, the Titans still couldn't go anywhere without getting dirty looks from people everywhere they went. And because of that, they're food reserves were starting to run low. Mostly because of the massive amounts of food that Silkie required.

Knowing that they would run out of food any day Naga knew they would have to get food the old fashioned way.

* * *

At midnight, he snuck out of the Tower through the front door.

He casually walked below the surface of the water as if it were air, with a bucket in hand.

In the briny depths, Naga pulled fish towards him using the very water currents that they were swimming in. When they met his grip, he sent an electrical shock throughout their bodies, killing them with little pain.

When he felt that he had caught a sufficient amount, he headed back towards the surface.

* * *

When Raven walked into the common room, she found Naga curled up on the couch.

She put the teapot on a burner and placed a tea bag in it.

While waiting for the pot to boil, she started to smell something odd in the room.

_Do I need to clean this thing out?_ she thought as she looked inside the kettle. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

When she moved towards the refrigerator, the smell got stronger.

She was totally unprepared for what she was about to see.

Inside was a bucket filled to the brim with dead fish, with heads sticking over the rim.

"WHOA!" she was so taken back that she landed on her rear.

"Could ya' keep it down. I had a long night," Naga said after being woken up by the empath's scream.

"What is that doing there?" Raven sternly questioned after regaining her uncarring demeanor.

"That's food that's supposed to last us for a while, but it won't if you leave the door opened like that," Naga said as he closed the refrigerator door.

"Sorry, but when I open my fridge, I don't expect to see a bucket of dead sea food," she said in a deadpan.

"You should've said something last night, otherwise I would've gotten caribou," Naga said with the sole intention of wanting to see a vein appear in the side of Raven's head.

_Hehehe, he's funny_, Happy said.

_Happy, you think everything is funny_, Rude said.

_Don't you think you should've left a note on the door or something_, Marina suggested.

_It wouldn't have been as funny if we did_, Airheart explained.

Suddenly all of the other Titans appeared in the room. No doubt they were alerted by Raven's startled scream.

"Raven what's wrong?" Cyborg questioned.

"Nothing, I just ran into Naga's food shopping."

Curious as to what she meant, they all looked inside the refrigerator.

"Where'd you get these?" Robin asked while covering his nose from the smell of the fish.

"Where d'ya' think, the ocean."

And with that, he pulled out the bucket and placed it on the counter.

Grabbing a knife from the rack, he casually sliced off the heads, and began the de-boning process he had used when Raven and Beast Boy walked in on him.

The only one that didn't seem to be disturbed by the disgusting process was Starfire, but then again, she's from a warrior race of aliens.

After he had cooked them, Naga brought the grilled fish to the table where everyone except Beast Boy had a piece.

After breakfast was finished, all of them went down to the gym for hand-to-hand combat training.

The goal for today was to learn how to use their powers to increase their attack power, while still not using any real long-range attacks. So that meant no sonic cannons, no starbolts or telekinesis, and especially no elemental shots.

Because Robin didn't have powers, all he had to do was avoid throwing his projectiles. And since none of Beast Boy's animal forms had any long-range attacks, he was already covered.

The first pair was Cyborg and Raven.

"Now don't worry. I'll go easy on ya' Rae."

Raven just rolled her eyes. She knew very well that she could hold her own in a fight, even if it wasn't for a very long time.

It turned out to be Cyborg's pride that became his downfall. He was so occupied about 'not hurting Raven,' that she was able to use an energy punch to send Cyborg flying back.

* * *

Next was Robin and Beast Boy.

Immediatly, Beast Boy transformed into a sasquatch, battleready.

It seemed like an even match. A person with no powers but was in peak physical condition, against a person who was normally not very tough in their human form but was able to transform into much stronger animals.

Robin seemed to be getting the upper hand with his bo staff, until Beast Boy was able to land a smack to the chest with his raptor tail.

Robin went off to a bench, grumbling about how it was just a lucky shot, and Beast Boy was busy making a fool out of himself by doing an Egyptian style dance.

* * *

Finally, Starfire and Naga both stepped into the middle of the room.

"$20 dollars on Star," Cyborg whispered to Beast Boy.

"Your on," Beast Boy whispered back.

Raven just rolled her eyes at how childish they were behaving.

"Ready... Go!" Robin announced.

Naga and Starfire both kept circling each other with their fists placed in front of their bodies.

It was Starfire that threw the first few punches, using starbolts on her hands to drastically increase her already herculean strength.

In order to be on par with the alien, Naga controlled the minerals in his bones on a minute level to increase his bone density. Using this technique along with lightning augmented fists, he repeatedly threw punches at his opponent, only to have her fly out of the way.

At one point, both of their energy enhanced fists made contact, which caused a small explosion to occur, but this didn't deter the two powerhouses.

"Hey Robin, if we can, can we use melee weapons?" Naga asked as he avoided another punch to the face.

"Sure!" Robin yelled up.

_Perfect_, he thought.

Pulling out stone slabs, Naga mentally willed them to take the shape of wind and fire wheels.

Stone clashed against silver as the weapons made contact with Star's arm bands.

When Naga got too close, Starfire found an opening and landed a starbolt powered punch square to his chest, knocking him back.

Wincing in pain, he righted himself up to face the Tamaranean.

"I'm about to be $20 richer," Cyborg said while giving Beast Boy a nuggy.

Knowing that he'd need a distraction, Naga jumped into the air, brining the curve of his knee into the ground, causing jagged stones to scatter everywhere.

Starfire launched into the air to avoid the rising floor fragments.

Naga was able to travel through the debris undetected.

Discarding his wind and fire blades, he flew up behind Starfire. Interlocking his fists and igniting them on fire, he aimed a drop punch straight into the alien's back.

She discovered his presence, however, and was able to block with her arm guards, but she was still thrown back by the explosion.

Using the momentary ceasefire to his advantage, Naga curled himself into a ball of ice and launched himself straight into his opponent.

Starfire, however, was able to catch the ice sphere as it came down on her and hurled into a wall.

Flying full speed, she slammed into Naga as he was coming out of the hole.

Both of them came flying out with their fists in each other's hands.

Using jujutsu, both of them attempted to use the other's weight to throw each other into the ground.

It worked for both of them.

Naga was the first to stand up, but instead of continuing to fight, he offered his hand out to the alien princess to show that there was no hard feelings.

Starfire happily accepted the gesture and accepted defeat.

"Looks like more green for the green teen," Beast Boy mockingly said as he counted his money in front of an upset Cyborg.

Raven healed the injuries that Naga and Star had both sustained.

After a little break, they went out to the obstacle course for team-building exercises.

Out of the ground came very thin looking robots that looked like they would break from just a friendly punch.

In actuality, these robots were highly sophisticated, solid state holo-droids that could take on the appearance and powers of various criminals.

The first team up was Raven and Naga.

* * *

Three of the robots were activated and took the appearances of Warp, Trident, and Psimon.

The three clones all attacked at once.

The Psimon-bot lifted multiple boulders and launched them at the two.

Warp's doppelgänger fired off it's shoulder mounted laser blasters.

Trident launched himself at the two, swinging his trident.

Raven ended up locked in a mental battle with Psimon.

Meanwhile, Naga was busy dealing with Warp and Trident.

Repeatedly Trident used his trident's laser beams at close-range.

In order to get some elbow room, Naga told Raven to get in the air.

Jumping in the air, he brought his fist down into the ground to rock the earth, knocking the sparring bots back.

They quickly regained themselves and continued their onslaught, but this time Warp and Psimon switched opponents.

In order to hold up against Trident's namesake, Naga formed a wrist mounted ice blade on his right arm.

He was also having trouble keeping up with Psimon's psychic attacks.

It wasn't until he shorted them out with a blast of lightning that the droids were shut down.

* * *

Next was Robin and Starfire.

Like with Naga and Raven, three training droids appeared before them, only these three took the identities of Nya-Nya, the catgirl Beast Boy followed in Japan; XL Terrestrial, and Trogaar.

Memories of her imprisonment overtook her and she flew straight into the Trogaar impersonator.

While Robin watched his girlfriend completely lose it, the Nya-Nya clone slashed its claws at Robin.

While on the defensive, he bumped into XL Terrestrial, who clicked the arrow on his chest, causing him to grow twenty feet.

He brought down his fists with the intent of smashing the walking traffic light.

Meanwhile, Starfire was having much more success with Trogaar than Robin was with the other two. Within minutes the Trogaar droid deactivated. She then flew over to Robin and started attacking XL.

Robin was able to take out Nya-Nya with a blow to the side.

Soon they both started to gang up on XL.

Holding him by the arms, Starfire flew Robin up to the robot's shoulder, where he launched three exploding discs at the neck, causing the robot to fall backwards and deactivate.

* * *

Finally it was Cyborg and Beast Boy's turn.

The robots that came out now took the form of the Off-World Outlaw, I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R., and the Creature from Jones Lake.

Beast Boy changed into an octopus and used his tentacles to slingshot Cyborg into I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R.

He then took the form of an ankylosaur to shield himself from Outlaw's laser pistols and the Creature from Jones Lake's atomic blast.

Meanwhile, I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R. was able to get a hold of Cyborg and launch him back at dinosaur Beast Boy.

Beast Boy started to use his club tail to try to smash the other two villains, but he ended up hitting the airborne Cyborg.

Beast Boy changed back to human form and apologized to his metallic friend.

Changing into a pterodactyl the changeling took the cyborg into the air to increase their defenses and give them a larger range of attack.

Repeatedly Cyborg shot off his sonic cannon blasts which were countered by the Creature's atomic ray.

Outlaw was able to fire a shot off at the green pterodactyl's left wing, causing him to fall to the ground with Cyborg still in his grip.

Beast Boy winced in pain as he transformed into a triceratops and stood on his left leg.

Using the dinosaur as a mount, Cyborg shot off his arsenal of rockets at the training droids.

One of Beast Boy's horns made contact the Creature and destroyed it, while his tail landed a hit to I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R.

Cyborg used both sonic cannons to land a shot that put two holes through Outlaw.

Raven healed the pain in Beast Boy's arm and used her telekinetic powers to pull out the dents in Cyborg's armor.

* * *

Now that training was finished, they were at a loss for ideas over what to do for the rest of the day.

That is until Cyborg told them to follow him into the garage/workshop.

In the middle of the room stood something being covered by a sheet.

"So you brought us here to see what?" Raven questioned in a sarcastic tone.

"The answer to all our problems."

He pulled the sheet back to reveal what lay beneath.

Six rings.

"Dude, how are these supposed to help us?"

"I'll show ya' grass stain."

When Cyborg put a ring on, it altered him to his original human form.

"I upgraded the holo-rings that I used to infiltrate the H.I.V.E. Now they just look like regular rings. Try 'em."

When each of them put on the rings, their appearances were drastically altered:

Beast Boy had regular human skin, albeit with a few freckles; blue eyes, and gritty blonde hair.

Starfire's hair was now orange-red instead of red-red; she now had pale skin; her scleras were white, though her irises stayed the same.

Raven's skin went from concrete gray to pale human white, her eyes stayed the same, but her hair changed to jet black and her chakra stone disappeared.

Robin's hair went auburn; nobody could tell, but his eyes stayed the same blue, though he still wore his signature mask, which he quickly replaced with a pair of sunglasses.

And Naga's skin tone changed to just a tinge paler, and the black snake mark on his right side was no longer visible; his eyes went back to pre-power hazel; but the most surprising change was that his signature afro had gone completely straight and hung over his left eye.

"Now the only thing we have to do is get into civvies."

Fortunately the Titans always had a stash of regular clothes for when they needed to go incognito.

Starfire spent about half the day trying to find something she felt would work, whereas Raven chose a dark blue sweatshirt with a black bird on it, and plain black sweatpants. Star finally decided on a green tank top, a pair of skinny jeans, and flip-flops.

Beast Boy chose a pair of gray cargo pants, a purple t-shirt with vertical black stripes, and a pair of sandles.

Robin dressed basically: a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers.

Cyborg's ring already put clothes onto him. A blue t-shirt, baggy beige shorts, and Nike sneakers.

As much as he hated it, Naga knew that he would have to wear... _shutters at the thought_... shoes. Because his fire powers could come directly out of his feet, whenever he used his 'jet toes,' anything he wore on his feet would be completely incinerated. After going through what was in front of him, he decided on a pair of combat boots, a red t-shirt with a black flame pattern, and his usual black cargo pants.

"Won't we need like codenames or something?" asked Naga.

"We've already got ours. I'm Dick; Starfire's Kory; Beast Boy is Gar; Raven is Rachel; and Cyborg is Vic," Robin told him.

Deciding to go with his middle name, Naga chose to be called Muhammed for the time being.

When they got back into the garage wearing their choices, they all remembered one very crucial piece of information.

"Cyborg, how are we going to go anywhere in the T-car?"

"I've got that covered too."

Cyborg slapped on a decal in the shape of a puma, and the T-car became a lime green mustang.

They all piled into the car. Using one of their secret tunnels, they discreetly came out in an abandoned alley and went onto the main road.

* * *

Their first stop was the grocery store.

When they found a cart they all started to look for things they needed.

After fifteen minutes, the cart was already half full.

When they got to the meat section, Cyborg's eyes started to glow with delight, and Beast Boy's filled with contempt.

When the robo-humanoid grabbed a pack of bacon, the disguised changeling smacked it out of his hand with a fly swatter.

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you. Bacon is **NOT** good for you!"

"And how many times do I have to tell you. **I DON'T CARE!**"

"Let's just get out of this murder house already," Beast Boy said in disgust.

After they'd payed for the stuff, they made a stop at an outdoor food court for pizza.

However, Beast Boy wasn't able to sit still. And it wasn't because he's just him.

"Mmm, I hate that we have to disguise ourselves just so we can go out in public," he whispered.

"You got a better idea?" Naga said sarcastically.

Before he could answer, three guys, who were secretly eyeing Raven and Starfire, came towards them.

They all looked like something out of a '50's clothes catalog. The only difference was that one of them was wearing sunglasses and had a toothpick sticking out of his mouth.

"Hello ladies, I'm Cash, this is Sammy, and this is E. E is knew in our, little group."

Cyborg had to fight the urge to hang Sammy and Cash by their underwear on the fountain that was near them. These were the same punks who stole his car, painted flames on it, and eventually lost it to Gizmo of all people.

"So what does 'E,' stand for?" Raven asked sarcastically.

"Exceptional," he said with a sly smirk. "You wanna', find out why?"

"I believe I would like to find out why," said Starfire, not picking up on the obvious flirting.

"That's ok Kory, you don't have to," Raven said.

"So, your name is Kory. What's yours?" Sammy said pulling a chair up next to Raven, completely oblivious to the fact that he was talking to the same girl who had put him in an energy field.

"Hmhmhmhm," chuckled Naga.

"And what's so funny?" Cash said.

"Nothing, it's just that this is probably the biggest load of crap I've ever heard."

"Hey Cash check it out, they're all wearing the same rings," E said.

Whatever was going through the punk's head, only God knew.

"Dang man, this is some serious 'operation,' you got goin' here," he said to Robin.

A second later, Robin's fist was planted into Cash's gut.

"Don't even think that!" he yelled.

When Sammy was about to get up, he found himself hovering a foot above the air, dangling in Cyborg's hands.

E was about to run away, but found his path block by Naga, Beast Boy, and the very girls he and his friends were hitting on.

The only thing that kept the four from pounding into him, was the arrival of the police.

"What's the problem here?" one of them asked.

"Well, me and my friends were just introducing ourselves, when this guy just punched Cash in the gut, and he grabbed Sammy out of nowhere" E said pointing at Robin and Cyborg; trying to sound innocent.

After looking at a sprawled out Cash, Sammy being dangled in the air, and E surrounded four to one, anyone would have jumped to some sort of conclusion.

"That is so not what happened!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Then what did happen?"

"These punks started harassing us," Cyborg said, dropping Sammy to the ground.

"Aren't these two car jackers," one officer said referring to Sammy and Cash.

"Yeah, these two stole the Titan's car."

"You three are coming with us."

"We're also going to have to ask you to come with us, and we'll have to confiscate your rings as evidence."

Knowing that when they took off their rings their cover would be blown, the Titans put their hand that their rings were on behind their backs.

"Come on now, we don't want any trouble. We promise we'll give the rings back."

The Titans still didn't hand them over.

At this point, one of the officers grabbed Starfire's wrist and attempted to take her ring off by force.

Naturally, Robin did what anyone would do. He grabbed the cop by his own arm and landed a kick to his chest.

Now the second law enforcer was starting to go on the defensive, pulling out his taser gun and shooting it off.

At the last moment Naga stepped in front of the stun gun's path and used his right arm to absorb the electricity coming out of the device.

Unfortunately, the electricity surging off of his arms shorted out the holo-ring on his ring finger, which blew up while still on his hand.

The holographic image flickered and faded, revealing his true form.

Cover blown.

Knowing that the cherade was over, the others took off their rings and returned to their true forms, though still wearing the clothes they picked out at the Tower.

All the attention of everyone in the area turned and pointed towards the formerly disguised heroes.

"Naga give us some cover," Robin said.

Slapping his palm down into the ground, he sent a giant shockwave which knocked everyone else off their feet.

"Raven."

"I'm on it." Throwing a black dome over them and the T-car, she transported all of them back to the Tower.

They didn't even remember, or even care, to unload the groceries from the car.


	10. Some More Changes

**New Guy Naga**

**_Chapter 10: Some More Changes_**

After their little fail at espionage, all the Titans were both curious, and nervous, as to what the papers would be saying about them.

Each of them sat around the folded paper as if it would tell them the secrets of the universe.

When Robin unfolded the editorial, they all knew that it wouldn't be anything good.

* * *

**"Who can we Trust"**

_"Yesterday, the Titans finally came out of their house after their three-day hold up in their 'T' shaped fortress. However, they had been in disguise."_ Two pictures were below the caption. One of the Titans with their holo-rings on, the other after they took them off. _"It seems that the heroes we all know don't seem to trust us enough to let us know that they're in our presence. What's more, is that the level-headed leader Robin, has anger management issues, as he punched a bystander in the gut for no apparent reason, and even used his teams new pet for some 'fun destruction,' using him to create an earthquake which could've severely hurt someone. Thankfully, no people were physically damaged, though we can't say the same for any emotional or mental trauma."_

* * *

"I can't believe the garbage these people make! What do they expect, going out in disguise is the only way we could do anything!" Beast Boy said.

"Reason is wasted on the reasonless. If I wanted to hurt someone, I'd make it rain fire. 'Pet,'" Naga said in disgust as he dug into a piece of leftover fish.

"Those little punks are lucky I didn't put my sonic cannon up their butts."

"Friends, do not let the worded paper bring down your spirits. I believe that this situation calls for an early Blorthog."

"What-thog?" Naga whispered to Raven.

"The Tamaranean friendship festival."

When Starfire left to get her Blorthog things, Naga's back became engulfed in flames and crackled with electricity.

"Sheesh dude, if you don't want to celebrate you can just hide in the bathroom," Beast Boy joked.

"It's not that, my back's been itchin' like crazy, and setting myself on fire is the only thing that can get rid of it."

It didn't stop at his back. Naga was starting to act odd, even for someone like him.

The most noticeable change was that he was starting to act more savage during training. While fighting a training droid that took the form of the Cironiellian Chrysalis Eater, some urge came over him, and he drove a lightning infused blade through the robot's mid-section.

When he got over what came over him, his only explanation was that it, "just felt natural."

After Robin told him to go inside and get cool down, he turned to Raven and Beast Boy.

"What do you want us to do?" Beast Boy asked.

"I think his powers are starting to affect his sanity. I want you two to restart his training."

They were brought out of their conversation when an oven came flying out of the window and nearly hit them.

* * *

When they got up to the common room, they found claw marks all over the walls, the sink was smashed, and the couch was on its side, on the other side of the room.

"My sofa!" Cyborg screamed.

They noticed a strange glow from underneath the overturned piece of furniture.

Raven mentally lifted it, to reveal Naga.

He was curled up with his knees to his chest, blue flames shooting off of his body.

Raven attempted to use her powers to soothe the pain he was in, but as she got near him, the flames sent out a heat pulse, throwing them all back.

When he stood up, Naga's body was becoming more reptilian. His fingernails had sharpened. The skin on his arms had partially turned to scales. On his feet, where a human's nails would grow, the toenails were replaced by the kind of nails that would be found on a theropod dinosaur. The last part of the transformation was the most gruesome.

Out of his back sprouted a pair of bat-like wings. A single finger stuck out from the top, with four long fingers pointing down. The framework was dark red, but the skin between each frame was pitch black.

Naga's eyes glowed with dark lightning, which dissipated as he went unconscious where he stood, the dragon wings receding into his spine, leaving two large tears in his clothes.

After hooking him up to the med-bay, they found that along with the arms, the areas on his back where the wings grew out of were also changed to scales, and the snake mark on his side had grown wings.

When they felt that he would be alright by himself, they went back to clean up the living room.

"Dude's, is it just me, or does all our favorite stuff have a habit of being destroyed?"

"Way ahead of you BB, that's why I made these." Cyborg held up a jar with what looked like insects inside of it.

"And we're looking at what?" Raven asked.

"Self-replecating nano-bots. These little guys will be able to fix anything." He poured some of the micro-bots onto the couch and after about 20 seconds, the sofa was as good as new.

In a few minutes the room didn't look as if a burning human had stood in it.

"Now all we have to do is figure out what's up with Naga."

"I have a theory, but... nevermind, it's stupid," Raven said.

"Raven, after everything that we've seen, I'll be willing to believe that tiny fairies live in my ear," Cyborg said.

"I need to get something from my room." After about five minutes, Raven returned with a large book in hand.

When she opened it, it was filled varying charts and diagrams. The words of the book were written in other-worldly runes and shapes, with their English equivalents written beneath them. At the bottom of the page was a picture of a snake and an arrow pointing to a dragon.

"This is just a theory, but I think that Naga is in a state of transcendence, going from an ordinary snake to a dragon."

"It would explain the wings and claws, but what about what happened during training today," Robin said.

"I'm not so sure about that."

* * *

The next day, Naga had woken up to find himself strapped to a bed in the med-bay.

_Is it just me, or do we seem to have a habit of waking up here_, Airheart said.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was that his toenails had turned into dinosaur claws, though the foot structure was still like that of a human's foot.

After burning away the straps that bound him, he noticed that his arms were covered in scales, along with parts of his back.

The clock on the wall read 3:03 a.m. He walked out of the room, hoping that a walk would be able to help him think straight.

All the way back in Cyborg's room, he had his monitors synced up to Naga's life support systems, so he would be alerted when he woke up.

When he got to the med-bay, he found that Naga was gone.

* * *

For some reason, Naga felt himself drawn to the empath's room, as if some unseen entity was telling him that the answers to his questions were awaiting him there.

However, he was a ways away from Raven's room, and Cyborg had already gotten there and told Raven of the patient loose in the Tower. Both of them went off to alert the others, but while they were gone, Naga had made it to Raven's room, where the door was slightly opened. Ignoring Beast Boy's advice of never entering Raven's room without permission, he made his way in.

After searching all over the Tower, the five convened in the common room. On the monitor was several images of various parts of the building. The only parts that weren't monitored was each of the Titan's rooms. Knowing that it was their only other option, each of them went back to their rooms, hoping to find Naga there. He was nowhere to be found. They finally checked in his room, nothing.

Each of them went back to their rooms to rest.

* * *

Naga had played a dangerous game. He had invaded another person's room, one who was half-demon no-less, and used her magic mirror without her permission, and while she knew about none of it. (It's Nevermore all over again).

Once again, he found himself waking up in a pasture under black skies. He knew it was crazy, and probably a long-shot, but he had a feeling that Knowledge might have been able to help him.

The first emotion he met was Timid, still sobbing on the same rock that she was on the first time he was there.

"Um, Timid, I was wondering if you could tell me, where I can find Knowledge."

The gray emotion just continued to sob where she sat.

"Are you all right?" he asked. He still got no response.

_Maybe I should handle this situation_, Marina told him.

Soon Marina's consciousness washed over Naga.

Speaking with her soothing voice, Marina tried to make conversation with Timid.

"Please tell us, what troubles you dear?"

"Everyone hates us, even you."

"What makes you think we hate you?"

"What he said to Starfire, about how it's doesn't seem possible for us to be accepted, and how Inferno tried to destroy us when you found out about my... heritage."

"Do not worry about Inferno, it takes him a while to get used to someone, and he does mean well, even if he tries to slice a person's head off to do it; and what Naga said about you and the others was only out of anger towards humanity. Please, take it from me, you and the other Titans are quite possibly the closest thing to a family he's had in a long time." And with that, Marina used Naga to give Timid a warm hug.

"Now if you'll excuse us, we really need to find Knowledge." Marina let Naga back into his own mind and he went off looking for the yellow clad emotion. Meanwhile back at Timid's rock, the gray emotion had stopped crying, while in the Tower, Raven was feeling slightly better for some reason.

* * *

Out of nowhere, Naga found himself pinned on the ground by none other than the emotion who was the exact opposite of the emotion he was looking for.

"Told ya' I'd get a rematch!" Brave said, still pinning Naga to the ground.

"Look Brave, I'm not here for any rematch, I'm here to find Knowledge," he said.

"I'll tell you where you can find her, if you fight me."

"How 'bout this: you get off of me, tell me what I need to know, and I'll do what I want to," he said dryly.

"Nice try kid, but it ain't gonna work."

"Fine, what stupid idea for a rematch did you have in mind." he said sarcastically.

"Good ol' fashioned mano a mano," she said as she helped him up off the ground.

She eventually led him to a giant Roman style colosseum.

They both took their places at opposite ends of the ring.

Both of them lunged for the other, blocking the other's punches and kicks.

Finding an opening, Naga tried to land an axe kick, but Brave crossed both her arms to block it. She then performed a karate chop to his leg, which he parried.

After about half-an-hour, both of them were exhausted from the constant fighting.

"Can... you... just tell me... where I can find... Knowledge!" panted Naga.

"Fine... keep going east... and you'll find a library... that's her place."

Naga followed Brave's instructions and continued eastward. He came upon rows of shelves of books, some of which were floating in the air.

He found Knowledge sitting at a desk, studying what looked like a Sumerian scroll.

"Good to see you again Naga. I suspect your here over recent events," she said without taking her eyes off of the ancient texts.

"Yeah, I was thinking that maybe you can tell me what's going on."

"Well my knowledge on this sort of topic is a bit limited, but I believe that I may have an explanation. By the way, thanks and tell Marina I said thanks for her talking to Timid." She pulled out the very same book that Raven had shown the others.

"The most logical explanation is that you are spiritually evolving from a snake, into a dragon. It would explain why the areas on your back turned to scales when you grew wings."

"But why are my arms covered in scales?"

"I believe that along with being able to grow wings from your back, you can grow them out of your arms. Try it."

Naga rolled up his sleeves and concentrated on his arms. His index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers on both hands elongated, while his thumbs became only slightly longer and all became much more bony. Soon both his arms were dark red. Black skin membranes started to form between each finger. Tearing through the sides on his shirt and trench coat, connecting to his side.

After the task was completed, Naga changed his wings back into arms.

"As for your behavior on the training field, it may have been some sort of side effect of the ascendance, which was only strengthened by your dislike of insects; although I do believe that little side effect has passed. Also, with your evolution, I believe that your level of emotional awareness with snakes has now been broadened to reptilian creatures in general. Also, with these new wings, your flight speed will be unparalleled. Although you will need training, of course," at this point Naga had stopped listening after "your flight speed will be unparalleled," and grew his wings out of his back and had taken off and was soaring through Nevermore on his wings.

After he travelled for what seemed like miles, he found himself back at Knowledge's libraray.

"Wait, how did I end up back here?"

"Well we're beyond the earthly realm. The laws of physics apply only if Raven wishes them to. You may have travelled so fast that you ended up back here, or I could've sent my whole library to your location, you can never tell which. It's no different from how you made a stone bridge appear from nowhere when the others were in your mind. Huh, it's interesting, I've noticed that you and Raven share certain... similarities."

"What! No way! Me and Raven couldn't be any more different."

"No, the similarities are really quite startling. The clearest being, you both share a, well I guess you could call it a kind of... multiple personality dissorder. Raven has us, and you have the Guardians."

At first he dismissed the idea of him and Raven being similar, but then he started to actually consider it. A lot of Raven's emoticlones shared general personality similarities with the Earth Guardians:  
Airheart and Rude both enjoyed the misfortune of others.  
Marina was an optimist like Happy.  
Timid and Frostbite were both A-class pessimists.  
Brave and Sub-Terror were both stubborn and eager to punch first and ask questions later.  
If Rage and Inferno were able to become friends, there'd be no telling what they'd do.  
Knowledge and Darkvolt were both level headed and liked to stay neutral in conflicts.

"As well as that, you were both thrust into, um, eventful lives, because of things beyond your control. Raven's... parentage, and what with you being a vessel and all..."

Knowledge stopped, noticing that she had clearly gotten Naga into some sort of depression.

"Food for thought though right, eh heh heh heh."

"Well, thanks for the information, I'll see ya' 'round."

Before he could leave, Knowledge ceased him by the arm.

"Uh, I was wondering if I could speak to Darkvolt and the others. You see, because the Guardians were sealed away before any form of text was invented, there's no written history of them, even among the tomes of Azarath, I doubt even Azar herself knew of their existence; so I was wondering if I could do a little impromptu Q&A session with them."

_I don't see the harm in telling her about ourselves, why not?_ Marina said.

Naga agreed and Knowledge lead him over to a desk.

Knowledge searched through drawers all over the desk until she pulled out a small wooden chest. Inside it was an ink bottle and a journal, that was surprisingly blank.

"This is quite possibly a once and a lifetime opportunity, I'm documenting about something that is probably unknown to anyone else across multiple dimensions," said Knowledge on the edge of her seat.

She took out a loose piece of parchment. Taking the ink bottle, she poured out the liquid onto the piece of paper and instructed Naga to place his palm on the spot.

She then told him to place his ink covered hand on the first page of the empty journal.

When he did so, the ink left his hand without leaving a mark, and started to form itself into words and even a picture of the six creatures, of Naga's mark, and of the six pillar seal that the Guardians had placed themselves in.

"What just happened?"

"This is no ordinary ink, this is a type of ink that when it makes contact with the flesh, will then write down the knowledge of a specific subject that the writer knows about. Now I just need to make a copy, one for here, and one for the real world, though the process will require your assistance."

Knowledge lit several candles and placed the journal on a chart with the cycles of the moon on it.

Interlocking their hands for the ceremony to work, Knowledge started uttering ancient words that Naga had no idea of what they meant. Soon the book became encased in a blinding white light. And just as quickly as the ceremony began, it ended, leaving an exact copy of the book next to the original.

When Knowledge placed her newest edition on a shelf she handed the copy to Naga to take back into the real world.

"Naga I hope you know how happy you've made me. Oh, and I also hope you don't judge us on what's going to happen next." She pointed to what was behind them.

An angry Raven with dark energy coming off of her hands in waves. Meanwhile, Rage watched the spectacle while sitting on a cliff, an evil smirk adorning her face.

"She must've realized your presence here when the book was made," Knowledge said.

"Your gonna get it now Fro-do!" Rude yelled before falling on her back laughing.

"Not so fast!" Brave had tackled Raven to the ground.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this," Knowledge told him.

Knowledge went over to the still fuming Raven who was being held back by Brave. She told Raven of all that had happened since Naga's arrival, and of what she had told him about the similarities between him and herself.

After listening to reason, Raven seemed to calm down, though she was still upset about the unwanted intrusion.

"Booo!" Rage said from her perch, clearly disappointed at the lack of flying body parts.

Following her back to the forbidden door he tried to make some sort of conversation.

"Look, I know you're mad about me coming here and all, but, well, Knowledge wanted me to give you this." He handed her the copy of the book that he and Knowledge had made. "She says it's supposed to be one of only two."

Like Naga, Raven was dismissive of the thought of she and him being the same in any way. But after listening to herself, literally, she started to think about the possibilities.

"Thanks, it's not every day that Knowledge gets to do something like this. So Marina talked to Timid huh?"

"Wha', oh yeah, I think she was able to get through to her."

"So Knowledge told you about the evolution process?"

"Yeah, but to be honest, the scales are going to be something I'll have to get used to, and the claws too," he said while looking down at his saurian claws.

"Hopefully this is where the metamorphosis stops, our house probably can't take another beating."

"Sorry about that," he said in a little chuckle.

When they went through the forbidden door the next thing they knew, they were back in Raven's room. The clock on her nightstand read out 6:30 a.m. This would usually be around the time that she would get up in the morning.

Deciding to get a head start on the day, Naga followed her into the common room. She offered him some herbal tea, which he accepted out of politeness. When the liquid hit his lips, he had to fight the urge to spit it back into the cup.

"Not your thing huh?"

"What gave me away," he said as the reluctantly swallowed the beverage.

He handed her back the mug, which she poured down the sink.

For himself, Naga made scrambled eggs. He offered to make some for Raven, but she politely refused. After eating, he hid the egg scraps and cleaned out the frying pan so Beast Boy wouldn't jump all over his back.

She grabbed one her books, took a seat on the couch and started reading. Meanwhile he grabbed a Playstation 2 controller and started tearing through as Sakon on Ultimate Ninja 4.

"You wanna play?" he asked handing her a controller.

"No thanks, I prefer not to lower my brain cell count."

Naga's curly hair started to tickle his wicked brain as a plan formed in his twisted little mind.

"You're right, you couldn't handle something like this."

"Can't handle brainwave halting neon lights, right."

"Hey, everyone's got to know their limitations."

_Are you gonna take that from him_, Brave said.

_You twisted little monster_, Airheart commented.

"Hand me a controller."

With a grin playing across his face, Naga did as she asked.

"But this is just to show you that I am more than capable of handling something this trivial."

"Whatever you say," he said sarcastically.

_What have I gotten myself into_, Raven thought as she had just realized that she had been the subject of reverse psychology. She was like a lion trying to live in the ocean. She had no idea of which character was stronger, she was lucky that she knew what the "X," and triangle buttons were for. Going for broke, she decided on using Tayuya.

Naga once again chose Sakon, though he was using him in his Second Stage Cursed Mark mode.

Within minutes, Naga was able to take down the unskilled Raven.

"This doesn't prove anything." Raven said indignantly. "Obviously you were going to beat me because I've never done this before," she added.

"Maybe not, but it does prove that you don't have to be stupid to be a victim of reverse psychology."

"I'll show you that anyone can play these stupid things. C'mon another round."

_Dance puppet, dance_, Airheart said, his voiced filled with wicked glee.

This time Raven had chosen Shizune, and Naga chose Possessed Gaara.

When Raven saw her opponent character's severe lack of speed she felt that she could wipe Naga's smug grin off of his face. However, what Gaara lacked in speed, he more than made up for in pure power and devastation, and once again the empath lost.

_That's it! I'm drivin' this thing!_

"C'mon! This time I know I'll beat your ass!" Raven said with Brave's confidence.

_Time to get serious Naga!_ Sub-Terror told him.

Raven decided to go with Might Guy, while Naga had chosen Kisame.

With Brave controlling Raven's actions, Naga was forced to stay on the defensive.

Soon Raven was able to put Naga's health bar past the half-way point. This however, meant that he was able to use the reversal jutsu: Water Style: Infinite Sharks, which put their health meters at equal points.

To keep distance between his character and Raven's, Naga kept using the Water Shark Shotgun technique and bomb kunai.

Soon Kisame's health bar was still in the yellow zone, though it was borderlining on red, whereas Guy's health was already in the red.

However, Raven was able to open the eighth gate and use his awakened jutsu: Morning Peacock.

Using his lightning speed, Naga was barely able to interrupt what would be the final blow.

Throwing a chakra seal, Naga cancelled out Raven's ability to use the substitution jutsu, and was able to pull-off the Water Style: Shark Attack Jutsu, which ended the battle.

Raven had taken back control of her mind from Brave and regained her calm demeanor. Though she still preferred reading, she had to hand it to Beast Boy and how he found these games interesting, but she would never tell anyone.

"There ya' are blood stain!" Cyborg said as he entered the room.

"Tell anyone about what just happened, and so help me, you'll need a team of surgeons to help you," Raven whispered to Naga on her way to the kitchen.

"So where've you been? We must've checked the whole Tower three times over looking for you."

Raven nodded her head, letting him know that he could talk about his excursion into her mind.

Although she had given permission to talk about it, he only gave the basic overview of what happened, out of respect for her privacy.

"Man, I'm surprised your even alive, I expected Raven to turn you inside out, then feed you to Silkie." Raven looked at him with an annoyed glare.

"Hm, trust me, if it hadn't been for Brave and Knowledge's intervention, you'd need to be measuring me for a new tux, and a casket."

"Speaking of clothes, we really gotta do something about those rags you're walking around in."

While trying to keep up with the events around him, Naga had forgotten about the holes in the back of his clothes, and the ones on the sides.

"Don't worry, I got this covered."

Pulling out the self-replecating micro-bots, Cyborg poured some onto Naga's clothes, mending them.

"And because these guys are self-replecating, you'll never run out."

"Thanks," Naga said in awe.

Soon Robin came in, followed by Starfire.

"Friend, you have come back to us!" Starfire said as she held Naga in a death grip.

"Where were you?" Robin asked.

"Let's wait until Beast Boy shows up; I don't want to re-tell this story twice," he said as he pried himself from the alien's grip.

When Beast Boy walked into the living room, Naga told them about everything Knowledge had told him. Everything except what she said about the similarities between him and Raven.

"So will we be expecting any more surprises, or is this where it ends?" the changeling asked.

"I think that this is where the changes stop. But to be honest, I've actually gotten used to the claws."

"Okay, okay, Naga's back, but we still have training to do. C'mon guys, down to the course," Robin said.

Today's training would be specifically for Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Naga. The four Titans that could fly.

Their task was to fly through airborne rings, while being pursued by flying attack pods.

On Beast Boy's run, he mainly used his flying squirrel form to use each ring as a platform for another take-off. When confronted with the battle probes, he landed on the head of the lead probe, causing the other's to open fire on him. Fortunately for him, he was able to jump off before a laser blast could hit him, destroying the probe he was on. He continued the process on the other probes until he crossed the finish line.

Starfire was able to flawlessly complete the course without a single shot even grazing her hair.

When confronted with the drones, Raven sent out her soul-self, which deactivated one robot wave the robots. When a second wave of robots came out, she encased them in an energy dome and crushed them.

Naga had slightly more difficulty when flying the course; mainly because his wings made him more of a target. When one of the probes flew close to him, he grabbed it, filled it with electricity, and launched it back at the others, exploding like a grenade from the overload, and taking the other drones with it. To keep more probes from coming out, Naga sent out a lightning pulse from his wings which destroyed the station that they came from.

"Okay, good run guys. Now this next training segment is just for Naga," Robin said.

Then from out of nowhere, a red, yellow, and purple blur started running in circles around them. When it stopped it revealed Más y Menos, along with Kid Flash holding Jinx bridal style.

"Hey Double M!" Cyborg said.

"Hola Cyborg," the twins said, giving the metal man a double fist bump.

"Hey Jinx," Raven said dismally. She still hadn't forgotten the time when Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo had taken over the Tower, and she broke into her room.

"Hey Rae, I'm still sorry about the whole, ya' know, breaking and entering thing."

"Naga this is Jinx, Kid Flash, and Más y Menos. They're supposed to help train you," Beast Boy said.

"I called them in last night," Robin said.

"But why's she here?" Naga asked while pointing to the ex-con.

"Someones got to keep an eye on this idiot," Jinx said while ruffling KF's hair.

"Hola Sr. Naga," Más y Menos said.

"So what are supposed to help me with?"

"Speed training. We'll see if your faster than the fastest boy alive, but I highly doubt that," Kid Flash said

"Get used to being the second fastest boy alive," Naga said while taking a predatory stance.

"Preparon a perder!" Más y Menos said, which translated to, "prepare to lose!"

"Here are the rules: this race is running only; so that means no flying, swimming, or burrowing. Two, no dirty tricks. Three the race will be ran around the perimeter of the city, and because of recent... publicity issues, you will have to stay on the fringe of city limits.

Each of the speed demons stood at the edge of the beach.

Before they could begin, the Titans East arrived. Bumblebee flew in on her wings, Aqualad came out of the ocean, and Speedy flew in on a red, arrow-shaped jet.

"Sorry we're late," Bumblebee said.

"Bee, I thought that just Más y Menos were supposed to be here, not that I don't wanna see you," Cyborg fumbled.

"You think that we were going to miss out on the race of a lifetime? I don't think so."

"Aquadude, $50 that says Naga beats Más y Menos."

"Make it $100, and you've got yourself a bet," Garth said, confident that the twins would win, though really just more interested in seeing the fish eater lose.

"I'll take a piece of that action, but let's make it interesting. $200 on my boyfriend," Jinx said while waving 200 big ones in front of the two.

Raven just rolled her eyes. Apparently pointless wagers weren't guy exclusive.

A giant monitor appeared out of the ground with three red dots, six yellow dots, and one green dot. Cyborg turned his finger into a flare gun, and as the countdown made its way to the green dot, he fired it off. Signifying the beginning of the race.

When the four took off, a huge dust cloud followed by a wake splash followed their departure. To the naked eye, the four would just be red, yellow, and black blurs, but the giant monitor, which was using a Titan's satellite soon displayed an image of the four to show their progress.

None of the racers were gaining any distance from the others, although Naga did when he started running on his hands as well as his feet, increasing his speed. "So long suckers!" he yelled back.

However, KF and Más y Menos weren't going to roll over so easily. Pushing themselves even harder, they started to catch up. Naga knew he would have no competition if he could use his hydromancy to displace the water beneath his feet, but he remembered that this was a super speed only contest. However, if there was one thing that he learned from Airheart, was how to find a loophole.

While still keeping his feet on the ground, Naga started shooting lightning out of his limbs to gain an advantage.

Soon they came upon the still charred remains of the seaside warehouse. Fortunately, the fire that the Brotherhood of Evil started was so intense, that the area was deemed beyond repair, and so no one was there. The city was planning on tearing the old buildings down and building new ones in their places, though it took some time for the city council to even decide on whether they should. Taking advantage of the lack of people, the four heroes decided to take a shortcut.

This was where Naga cringed, the twisted alleys and sharp turns required a lot of fast thinking, which was where his opponents excelled at. At one point, Naga missed a turn, and instead ran right through a building, still in the race, but losing a lot of momentum. He soon found himself behind KF and MM, who were both tied for first.

After regaining his momentum, they found themselves heading into the forest. This was where Naga would gain his advantage. Because of his enhanced vision, he was able to see a path through the thick trees and avoid the thick roots sticking out of the ground.

Soon, the back of Titan's Tower could be seen as they rounded the corner of the bay.

"¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!" The twins started to pull ahead, followed by KF and Naga.

If Beast Boy, Jinx, and Aqualad got any closer, their eyeballs would be touching the screen of the giant monitor.

The finish line came closer and closer, and each racers were in a three-way tie for first place.

Running predatory style, Naga was starting to gain a lead against the other two, who forced themselves to go even faster.

Más started to hold Menos by the feet to give them a four foot lead.

As they crossed the finish line, each of them were just a blur.

"So who won?" Jinx asked.

"It was obviously Más and Menos," Aqualad said.

"Do you have sea water in your ears? Naga easily beat both of them!" Beast Boy said.

"Let's find out." Robin turned on a stilled image of the photo finish.

Each of them looked to have crossed at exactly the same time.

"Increase visual graphics and enhance image," Cyborg said to the voice activated computer.

The image cleared up to reveal Naga's right hand millimeters across the finish line. Más holding Menos crossing second, and Kid Flash just nanometers behind in third.

"And the winner is... Naga!," Cyborg said.

"I am on a role!" Beast Boy smugly said as he took his $300 from a disgruntled Aqualad and Jinx.

Jinx went over to comfort her boyfriend.

"Fue un placer a la raza le," the twins said, which would translate to, "it was a pleasure to race you."

"Naga, next time, be ready to lose," KF said with a friendly smile as he shook Naga's hand.

"Don't count on it lead foot," he said, returning the smile.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to leave," Bee said.

"Oh friends, why not stay and, hang out for a while." Upon hearing the suggestion, Más y Menos both had comedically huge hearts for eyes as they oggled the alien girl.

For the rest of the day, the two Honorary Titans, Titans East, and West Coast Titans spent the day hanging out in the Tower.

Multiple times, Naga had purposely caused Aqualad to turn red with fury by eating leftover fish he had in the fridge and offering some to Speedy.

Cyborg, Más y Menos, Beast Boy, and KF were in a four-way slayer match on Halo, with the twins acting as one team, and Jinx cheering on her boyfriend.

Raven read one of her ancient texts.

Robin and Starfire both just relaxed on the couch.

They were brought out of their reverie when the alarm went off and the room was filled with red light.

"We've got trouble across the city. It's the H.I.V.E. Five! Titans go!"

* * *

Across Jump City, the H.I.V.E. were looting from virtually every bank they could find.

They all convened with their loot downtown, where they were met by the collective Titans.

"Crud! No one said anything about Titans East showing up!" See-More said.

"Well if it isn't little Miss Traitor."

"I can't believe I ever hung out with you idiots," Jinx said as she eyed her former team with contempt.

"H.I.V.E. Academy, destroy them!"

* * *

**Author's** **Note:** I'd like to give a shout out to **fman13**, who encouraged me to work on the relationship development for Naga and Raven. I'd also like to thank **BlueTitan**, for writing the story "**Quality Time**," which I am a huge fan of, that gave me the inspiration for certain parts of this chapter. BlueTitan if you're reading this, I would like to know when you will update the story with a new chapter.

Almost the end. If you have any requests, ideas, or questions for the story, review or private message me and I'll get back to you. Also, if my translations are off, review me with the right ones and I'll fix it.


	11. Grudge Match

**New Guy Naga**

_**Chapter 11: Grudge Match**_

The Titans had expected just Angel, Gizmo, Mammoth, See-More, Kyd Wykkyd, and a few Billies to show up, but what they found was what seemed to be most of the former H.I.V.E. Academy. They were accompanied by: XL Terrestrial, I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R., a battalion of H.I.V.E. Guards, and an army of Slade's old cyclops robots.

"Titans, so glad you could show up. Say hello, to the new H.I.V.E. Academy," Angel said while standing on the pile of stolen cash.

"H.I.V.E. Academy, destroy them!"

The H.I.V.E. Guards, acting as the first wave of attack, formed a defensive wall around their meta-human masters. Arming their weapons, they opened fire on the thirteen heroes.

Instinctively, Raven and Naga created a barrier of energy and solid concrete over the group. As the lasers slowly shattered the stone obstruction, Naga mentally gained control of the shards and launched them back at their attackers. The shards met their intended targets and lodged themselves inside the large guns that the guards were holding.

Throwing away the now useless weapons, they took out two small laser pistols that were placed inside the holsters on each of their belts and continued their attack.

"Kid Flash, try to take out those troops!" Robin ordered.

"You too guys!" Bee said to Más y Menos.

"Alright!"

"¡Sí!"

Soon, two red and yellow blurs zoomed past the H.I.V.E. vanguard, followed by unconscious soldiers.

The white cycloptic robots sprang into action and launched themselves at their targets.

Beast Boy turned into an ankylosaur, and as his friends, allies, and former enemy, got into the air and out of harms reach, he gave a swing of his mighty armored tail, sending the robots flying back towards their masters. This, however, didn't stop them from continuing their assault. They fired off their optic lasers at the airborne Titans.

Starfire hurled Cyborg into one of the robots, where the metal man's fist went right through the machine's head. But there were many more where that one came from.

Jinx sent out a hex wave at two of the robots, which caused their upper halves to be separated from their lower halves. Soon she found herself face to claw with one of Gizmo's mechanical spider legs.

"This is for freezin' us ya' jerk!" Gizmo sent the blunt end of the spider leg into his ex-leader's side, throwing her back.

Kid Flash ran over to her, only to be met by Mammoth's fist to the side of his face. "And that's for stealin' my candy bar!"

Meanwhile, Naga was fighting against Angel, who still seemed to hold a bit of a grudge against him for temporarily disabling all four of her major limbs. Using the powered gauntlets that they had received in their previous encounter with the Titans, she and Wykkyd sent out waves of green energy attacks, trying to vaporize the hero. Naga countered by using his super dragon breath. The intense fire melted right through three robots that put themselves in front of the attack to defend their masters.

Beast Boy turned into a squid and used his tentacles to slingshot Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad across the battlefield. Robin and Speedy used their explosive projectiles to create a trench around the villains. Aqualad used his hydrokinesis to manipulate the water in the exposed sewer pipes to infiltrate the robots systems and short them out.

Raven entrapped XL in an obsidian energy bubble. The alien pressed the arrow on his chest, growing until he was able to free himself from his confinement.

I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R. jumped in the air and landed right between the alien princess and the empath. Using his robo-claws, he grabbed Starfire and used her as a baseball bat against Raven.

Bumblebee flew up to I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R., and using her powers, shrunk down to three inches tall. Using her stingers, she repeatedly zapped him across his vast metal form.

In retaliation, the human robot launched out his arms as if they were rockets. Finding their way to the tiny human, both hands pinned her to the ground, throwing her stingers away, and sent out waves of electricity to incapacitate her.

Gizmo stood over the battered forms of Kid Flash and Jinx. Raising, his spider leg, he prepared to pierce the life out of the heroes, when a shadow grew above him. Looking up, he saw the gigantic form of a green whale. The pint-sized genius would surely have been crushed, if it was not for his suits built-in force-field generator. However, the last-minute activation, along with the impact from the 180 metric ton cetacean, knocked him unconscious.

After making sure that Jinx and Kid Flash had gotten back in the fight, Beast Boy transformed into a pterosaur, and flew back into battle.

When the guards regained consciousness they continued their firearm assault on the Titans.

Kid Flash, along with Más y Menos, ran in a continuous circle around the guards, throwing them into the air. When their laser pistols came back down, all of the Titans grabbed at least two or more pairs, and each used their respective powers to destroy them.

"Billy, Now!" Angel yelled.

From the rooftops of nearby buildings, dozens upon hundreds of Billies appeared.

Giving a mighty collective, "YEEEEEEEHHAAAAAAWWW!" all of them leapt from the rooftops and aimed themselves at the Titans, fists and feet aimed at their targets.

A huge red mound obscured the Titans from view. Each Billy repeatedly planted his fist firmly in the mound, battering and bruising the heroes on a massive scale.

From the middle of the dog pile, the Titans tried in vain to escape. Firing off sonic blasts, energy claws, starbolts, fire jets, and hex bolts.

A rumbling came from underneath the mound of human copiers.

A multicolored beam of blue, green, black, red, and purple. A conglomerate of their energy attacks. Billies were falling everywhere with smoke coming off of them.

"Titans! Go!"

The Titans began their collective counter attack.

Speedy launched one of his explosive arrows to enhance the power of Robin and Cyborg's sonic boom.

To protect the H.I.V.E., six of the thirteen remaining robots formed a defensive wall in front of the sonic boom. Their armor absorbed the brunt of the explosion, though most of their front parts were burned off, along with most of their central wiring.

Controlling the surrounding sewer water, Aqualad used aqua tentacles to batter See-More and XL on the streets and on the walls of buildings.

Starfire created a starbolt bomb, which was enhanced by one of Jinx's hex-bolts, knocking Mammoth and I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R. out of the battle.

Naga used his hands and wings to form an electro-sphere. Merging it with Raven's energy sphere, they launched their super attack at the H.I.V.E. Academy and the last seven robots, obliterating them and sending Angel and Kyd Wykkyd into unconsciousness.

The H.I.V.E. Academy had been beaten, the Titans had won.

Multiple police squad cars were called in to take the massive number of criminals away.

As the Titans tried to rest their weary bodies, explosions came from the police cars.

Coming from out of the fire were the figures of Monsieur Mallah, Madame Rouge, Brother Blood, the Brain, and General Immortus who was accompanied by his own army of robot-soldiers.

"Such inferior craftsmanship," Immortus mused as he looked over the pile of destroyed robots.

"It is a pity that our proxies were unable to annihilate you. No matter, eventually, every empire must come to an end, including yours, and from the ashes, we shall rise," the Brain monologued.

"They have been severely weakened. Shall we go ahead and destroy them now?" Madame Rouge asked.

"Very well, but do not fail Rouge. I want the serpent child alive. The rest of the annoyances, you may dispose of, with extreme prejudice." Blood mentally teleported the Brain and the semi-conscious H.I.V.E. members back to their secret hideout, wherever that is.

Taking the Brain's orders, the Brotherhood started to simultaneously attack Naga, remembering their initial encounter with him, and how they had nearly lost their lives in the process.

Madame Rouge had used her malleability to take out Jinx, Speedy, and Aqualad.

Mallah used a stun gun directly into the rectangular plate on Cyborg's chest to short out his systems. "Thank you for providing us with the weak spots of the metal one," the gorilla said to Blood.

Not only were the Titans exhausted from their previous battle, the Brotherhood was much stronger, and far more deadly than the H.I.V.E.

Beast Boy turned into a T-rex and started crushing Immortus' robot army, but there was only one of him, and far more of them. Also, these robot soldiers were far stronger than the robots the Titans had just fought. Although Beast Boy would stomp them into the ground, they only received a few dents, and got right back up.

Cyborg's secondary power cell activated and brought him back online. He launched out his shoulder rockets, which were aimed at the heads of Immortus' robots, obliterating them.

While the robots kept the Titans busy, Rouge and Mallah had been busy fighting Naga, putting him on the defensive.

Rouge used numerous fists to try to subdue him.

Naga breathed a ring of fire around himself for increased defense from the contortionist. To increase his power, he started to generate powerful winds around himself. Soon the fire ring, became a fire tornado.

Rouge backed away from the tornado with extreme fear, as parts of her hands started to melt from the intense heat.

Out of the blazing tornado, came two burning snake constructs, their ember eyes solely set on Mallah and Rouge.

However, before the constructs could be used, a trembling started coming from below the city.

Out from the ground came one of Immortus' gargantuan sentries.

"Titans, take it down!"

Knowing the full destructive potential that this kind of robot was capable of, each of the teenaged heroes attacked hard and fast.

When Naga tried to obliterate the machine with a powerful bolt of lightning, the machine just redirected it into the ground through its feet.

The robot seemed impervious to any attacks that the Titans threw at it. It was fire-proof; air and water tight; when they tried to fallback on punching it, they learned that it was equipped with a kinetic force field that absorbed their impacts.

It fired its ocular laser straight at the teenagers so fast, that Raven barely had time to erect a shield, but when the laser made contact, the concussive force knocked her unconscious.

The sentry stomped the ground, shattering the street into thousands of jagged stones.

The Titans layed across the broken street, battered and bruised.

Naga was the first to regain consciousness.

"Eliminate them," Immortus told the machine.

Obeying its masters orders, the sentry charged up the laser on its chest. It fired. Naga watched, as in the course of a few seconds, the Titan's bodies turned from flesh, to bone, to ash. He stared in disbelief. They couldn't be gone. It wasn't possible; but it was all too real. The defenders of Jump City, were no more.

"Your friends are gone, and you have nothing left to live for. Your only other option is to come with us," Rouge said.

Faster than a person could blink, Rouge found herself struggling in the grip of Naga's ice-covered hand. The ice spread down her body, turning her rigid and unable to move.

She looked in Naga's eyes, and she saw the same look of evil glee that so many had seen in her own eyes. This time, when he killed, it wasn't for survival. This time he killed for revenge. He killed out of hate.

Naga created another fire circle, and turned it into an all-consuming fire column. Rouge's screams of agony were lost through the roar of the fire that Naga had created.

When the fire subsided, the only person who came out of it was its creator.

Mallah and Immortus looked on from the sentry's shoulder with extreme unease. Rouge was easily the Brotherhood's deadliest assassin, and this child had killed her, not only in less than a minute, but also without a moment's hesitation.

Naga turned his sight to the relic from the past and the gorilla. His serpent mark expanding across his skin to consume his body in its reach. His body increased in mass, his arms becoming thick as pillars and grew a single backwards spike on both elbows. His legs disappeared, and were replaced by four spear-like scorpion legs, two in the front, two in the back. His head became cat-like and grew five yellow eyes with black vertical slits for pupils. A two-foot long grin with conical teeth, spread across his face. A single diamond cone grew from each of his shoulders. From the base of his spine, grew a beaded scorpion's tail made of the purest obsidian.

The crystals on Naga's shoulders launched out of their sockets like rockets, bound to their wielder by stone chains that grew out of the beast's shoulders.

The crystal drills found their target, and defying the sentry's kinetic force field, lodged themselves within the robot's chest. Pulling the chains back into his body, Naga pulled with all his might as the sentry refused to be brought down. Harder and harder Naga pulled, and harder and harder the sentry defied. Smashing his fists into the ground, Naga sent a massive wave of jagged earth aimed straight at the sentry. The earth wave hit it directly in the middle of its leg joints, bringing it down to its knees. Placing the crystals back in his shoulders for later use, Naga made a massive leap for the robo-behemoth. He merged his spear-like legs together in the shape of a drill head.

A bright flash of electricity sparked as Naga forced his way through the protective field around the sentry's head. Fortunately, due to the previous impact in its chest, it's force field generator gave out much faster, allowing Naga to pierce the robot's head. Bringing his tail up, Naga repeatedly drove it through the robot's body. Soon it was an unrecognizable scrap heap.

He noticed Mallah and Immortus trying to make a break for it. Not gonna happen. Naga's tail extended about 20 meters to wrap itself around the ancient and the gorilla.

Immortus looked Naga straight in the eyes, all five of them.

"Let's see how easily you break!" Naga increased the pressure of his tail around Immortus until he heard a '_crunch_,' sound come from him. Loosening his tail, he dropped the old man's lifeless body onto the ground. He turned his head to face Mallah.

Smashing him up against the wall, he kept him firmly in his grip. Rearing up the scorpion tail like a snake ready to strike, Naga drove it straight through Mallah's heart. Blood trickled down the wall where the impaled ape hovered above the ground. Naga flicked his tail, flicking blood onto the form of General Immortus.

Only one more, Brother Blood.

He found the former H.I.V.E. headmaster standing on the roof of a building, standing right underneath a giant video screen, his eyes glowing red.

Before Naga could obliterate Blood, the world around him became hazy, becoming nothing but swirling images.

When the world around him became clear again, he found his prey accompanied by some familiar faces. Rouge, Mallah, and Immortus stood beside Blood.

The glowing of Blood's eyes subsided.

It dawned on Naga that he had been caught in nothing but a giant Genjutsu, an illusion that Blood must've created while he and the others were unconscious. The Titans were still alive, and starting to regain consciousness. He had done in real life, what he did in his false world; the burning ring where he thought he destroyed Rouge, the hole in the wall where he thought he killed Mallah, and the sentry that was in pieces, except that he didn't do it to any real people.

Naga lost focus on the Brotherhood as the others were starting to wake up.

He ran over to the others on his four legs.

When they all woke up, they were startled by the creature looming over them. However, the founding Titans calmed down when they realized it was Naga in his Sub-Terror form.

"Sorry to break up the little reunion, but I believe that there is something you might want to see," said Mallah.

Blood placed a wire in the back of his head, which was connected to the jumbotron.

Images of what Blood had seen during Naga's entrapment in his illusion were shown. The Titans being obliterated; Rouge's incineration; and the maiming of Immortus and Mallah.

"My my, for a hero, you certainly know how to kill," Blood said.

"When you come to realize where your loyalties _should_ lie, we will be waiting," Rouge added.

Out of anger, Naga launched his shoulder crystals and extending tail at the Brotherhood, only for them to be teleported back to wherever they came from.

When a part of his rage was able to subside, he went back to his human form, though exhausted from going back.

Soon, dozens of camera flashes started going off.

Raven used her powers to destroy the annoying paparazzi's snooping devices. She'd had enough of the bad publicity she and her friends didn't deserve.

Putting a black dome over her friends, she mentally brought them back to the Tower.

As soon as they were back home, Naga flew straight to his room, despite his friends wanting to talk to him.

* * *

While Naga felt terrible that he had was willing to kill without thought, it felt... liberating, empowering. In a single word, it felt, great.

_You did nothing wrong, it wasn't even real, and even if it was, the world would be better off without them_, Inferno said.

_It may not have been real, but to kill without regret or hesitation, is to lose your humanity_, Marina lectured.

_Naga, with your power you are to bring order to the world, b__ut sometimes order is created through chaos!_ Sub-Terror told him.

Raven could sense the discord within Naga's mind. The Guardians were arguing again.

_Naga, you've become more than human, you know you have the potential to become the most powerful creature on this planet, stronger than the Titans, even stronger than the one called Superman. This is the power that you know you've always deserved!_ the fire beast goaded.

_But will that power be worth it if you lose yourself in the process!_ Marina argued.

Naga gripped his head as if it would silence the morality debate that was going on within himself.

He looked out of his window, the water at the edge of the shore becoming more volatile.

"Rough time?"

Naga turned around to find Raven standing in the doorway.

"Rough's an understatement, more like someone took my money, pushed me to the ground, and kicked me in the face. Whenever I think that I have people to care about, something always comes to take it away."

"I know how you feel, but it won't always be like this."

Raven got into the lotus position and gestured for him to do same.

Naga just rolled his eyes. "Raven I'll never get meditation."

Still sitting, hovering in the same spot, she made it clear that she wouldn't leave until he got into his meditative position.

Knowing he couldn't win in this argument, he copied Raven's form, only instead of connecting his middle & ring fingers with his thumb, he layed out his palms parallel to the ceiling, with a fire burning in each hand. During one of the many awkward off days that the Titans had been having, Raven had told him to use this technique as a way of keeping his powers under control.

With the elements came a different challenge. He was supposed to keep his lightning, fire, and wind powers from becoming too volatile. When meditating with earth, ice, and water, he was to keep it in a definite shape.

Raven kept muttering her three word mantra, while Naga listened to the soft crackle of his fire.

Many times Naga had claimed, and even argued, that meditation was useless for him. Unlike Raven, his powers were only tapped to his emotions, not fueled by them.

Raven often countered by stating that, powers tapped to emotions could be just as dangerous as powers fueled by them.

When it got later in the day, Titans East went back to Steel City, and Jinx and Kid Flash went back to Keystone City.

* * *

The next day, after Naga had cooled down, Starfire had suggested that they all go to the beach as a little treat for themselves. At first Naga was apprehensive of the idea, but then Beast Boy explained about a little spot about two miles away from the main beach area. It was blocked off by thick bushes and even had a medium-sized cove.

When Naga tried to argue, Robin made it an official order that they would go to the beach. Everyone.

* * *

When they got to the secret beach spot, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin and Starfire headed straight for the water, all of them clad in beach attire. Robin was wearing swim trunks that had the same "R," logo that was on his uniform. Beast Boy was wearing a purple bathing suit with green sharks. Starfire was wearing a pink bikini, that Robin couldn't help but take glances at. Obviously, Cyborg didn't need to wear anything, but he put on a holo-ring that put him in a bathing suit, just so he wouldn't feel left out.

Back on the sand, Raven, who was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray shorts, had a beach chair set up, along with a giant umbrella for shade; as if her gargantuan sun-hat didn't do enough of that.

Naga sat with his knees to his chest on a beach towel and looked out to the ocean, still in his usual attire. For someone who could control sand and water, changing into a swim suit was rather, redundant.

"Not much of a beach person, huh?" he asked.

"I don't tan, I burn. What's your excuse?"

"Never liked sea-water."

Both of them stayed particularly dreary, until something started going on in Naga's tricky little mind.

Raven could tell he was planning something because his fangs had a new luster about them.

While enjoying the water, Robin felt a tug at his waist, although he counted it as nothing.

They were all surprised when his swim trunks washed up on the beach, though without their owner in them.

Realizing what had happened, the water around gel head, started to boil from his rage as he glared at Naga, who was laughing himself to death.

"Dude I am so gonna put this on the internet," Beast Boy said as he took a picture of the swim trunks with no owner.

"Do not worry Robin, I will retrieve your garments," the naïve alien said, not knowing how embarrassed her boyfriend was when she handed him his shorts.

Deciding to continue his streak of mischief, Naga looked around to find something that might be considered funny. And then it came to him. Hit 'em where it hurts.

"Dude, nice sand sculpture."

Naga stood by a sand statue that was a very, _realistic_ version of the T-car.

When the sun started to get lower, Cyborg set up the portable barbeque, he had brought from the Tower. After they each had their fill, they started to pack up.

"Uh dude, where's the car?" Beast Boy asked. They looked at the very spot they had parked, which was now just four holes where the tires used to be.

When Cyborg pressed a button on his arm, a muffled, _beep beep_, could be heard coming from underneath Naga's sand sculpture.

Red question marks turned to exclamation marks above Cyborg's head as he started to figure out where his car was. Steam started to billow out of his human ear, followed by the sound of a train whistle.

"You buried my baby in sand!" he yelled.

"Hey, it's not like it's the first car I've ever buried," Naga said defensively.

At this point, Cyborg was grinding his teeth.

"Fine, I'll get the car out." Naga pulled the sand out, leaving the car without injury.

"Dude, you are pure evil!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Thank you," he said, taking a half-bow.

Back at the Tower, they ordered chinese take-out for tonight's movie.

About twenty minutes later, the delivery guy came, with about five different bags hung over his shoulders.

When they divvied up eaches share, they found a huge bowl of complimentary ramen noodles.

It was Starfire's turn to pick which movie they would watch. So they all cringed inside.

The movie tonight, "The Birds."

_This is my kind of movie_, Airheart said as he watched the avian horror movie.

_It's good, but I think that it could do better with a few more explosions_, Inferno commented while watching the gas station explosion scene.

After the movie finished and everyone else went off to bed, Robin and Cyborg stayed behind to plot their hilarious revenge.

* * *

When Naga walked into the living room, it took him a while to clear the sleep out of his brain, and to register that there were three children sitting on the couch.

Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't in the end trails of a dream, he learned that there really were kids sitting on the couch.

The one that seemed to be the oldest had two pig-tails, a white shirt with a pink "M," and a pink cape and skirt. The second tallest had orange-red hair, a yellow shirt with a red "T;" the rest of his attire was entirely red; he carried around a small blue blanket. The smallest child was wearing a blue onesie, with a picture of a tooth on his bib.

"Who are you?" Naga asked after a deep pause.

"Note, note," the smallest one said.

Sure enough, there was a note taped to the front of the fridge.

_Naga,_

_We need you to watch Melvin (the girl), Timmy (the redhead), and Teether (the baby). These are the kids that Raven escorted to the monastery when we were fighting the Brotherhood. They asked to come to the Tower to see Raven, unfortunately, we have to maintain the up-keep on our safe-houses, and you were the last one to wake-up. Make sure nothing happens to the kids, or else you'll be on toilet duty for the next three months!_

_Robin & Cyborg_

The ending of the note was the gear that clicked together that this was really just a retaliation prank for the humiliation and suffering he caused them yesterday.

He felt a tugging on his trenchcoat. Turning around, he found Teether chewing on the end. He tugged his coat away, and used his powers to pull the saliva out of it.

_Kids, man I hate kids!_ he thought to himself.

_I find hatchlings adorable_, Marina said.

_Their an annoying waste of life expectancy, not to mention butt ugly. Why can't humans just reproduce like amoebas, it'd save a lot of time_, Inferno said.

Teether started to chew on the countertop, and Naga had to pull him by the legs just to get him off. Although a piece of table was broken off.

"Nice," Naga said sarcastically.

It wasn't long before Timmy started crying and hitting the ground. "HUNGRY, HUNGRY, AAAAAHHHH!"

Clamping his ears shut, Naga put some popcorn in the microwave.

When the appliance dinged, he handed to the bag to the children.

"There's not enough," Melvin said.

"Your kids, you don't need that much."

"Not for us, for Bobby!" Melvin gestured to air.

"Who?"

"Bobby, you can't see him because he hides himself from scary people."

"Right," Naga said, unconvinced.

Melvin's right pigtail raised itself in the air. "Yeah, the snake guy is odd."

Teether started to gnaw on the sofa.

"Can't you control that thing?"

"Teether stop it!" Melvin said with an authoritarian tone.

His head held in shame, Teether spit out the piece of the sofa he was chewing on.

"AAAAAHHHHHH! BORED BORED BORED BORED BORED!" Timmy yelled.

"SHUT IT!" Naga screamed. His arms and eyes discharging with electricity.

The kids reclined in fear.

Some unseen force held Naga in the air and threw him against the wall.

The teddy bear Bobby materialized in front of the kids.

"What is that?!"

"That's Bobby," Melvin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_So the girl's power is imagination manifestation_, Marina said.

The giant teddy bear started to move towards Naga, its claws barred.

"Bobby no! He's a friend of Raven!" Melvin told her creation.

Bobby stopped and lifted the children up to his shoulders.

The kids cheered at the piggy-back ride.

Just hoping it could get his mind off of his nightmare, he got into his meditative position and placed a small tornado in both of his hands.

Although he was having trouble concentrating because of the kids incessant laughing.

_I'm gonna get you guys_, he thought to himself.

But as the kids laughter got louder, his tornados grew stronger.

The twisters started to merge into a hurricane, which sucked in the kids and Bobby, but this only gave them more amusement.

Slowly dissipating the hurricane, Naga softly placed them on the couch.

"I don't have time for this, I have revenge to plan," he said to himself.

"Where're you going?" Melvin asked.

"To do things that you wouldn't understand."

"Like what?"

"Revenge," he said with a twisted grin.

"On who?" Timmy asked.

"Bird Brain, and Chromedome."

"Why?" Teether managed to say.

"Because they stuck me with you," he bluntly stated.

"Can we help you?" Melvin asked, trying to fix whatever she and her brothers did wrong.

"Stay out of my way."

"AAAAAAHHHHH! WANT TO HELP! WANT TO HELP!"

"Okay okay! You can help by getting me things and handing them to me."

"What do ya' need?"

"I'm gonna need superglue, and all the hot sauce you can find."

* * *

By the time the others got home, it was the middle of the evening, when they got into the living room, the kids were riding around on Bobby as if he were a rodeo bull.

Naga sat in the corner in a meditation position, two flat disks of water calmly rotating in his hand, and a small, content smile on his face.

"RAVEN!" all the kids screemed at once.

In less than a minute, Bobby moved from one end of the room and had her pinned onto the ground.

"It's good to see you guys," Raven said as each of the kids gave her a hug.

"Uh Naga, what've you been feeding them?" Beast Boy asked.

"Oh, they found Starfire's bowl of leftover sugar candies." More like he gave them the bowl. When they found the discarded bowl, it was licked clean.

Soon the energy from the candy wore off, and the kids slept for the rest of night.

Raven teleported herself and the kids back to the monks' temple.

* * *

The next day came like any other day.

Robin went into his bathroom, grabbed his hair gel, and applied it to his head. Though for some reason there was a slight tingling right after he applied it. Soon the tingling started to turn to burning. Then searing agony. When he tried to pull his hand away so he could turn the faucet on, he found that he couldn't move his hands. He ran out of the Tower, screaming his lungs out.

He jumped into the ocean. Sweet relief washed over him in waves.

The others came out to see what the problem was. Everyone except Naga.

When he looked over his gel, he found that it was laced with hot sauce and superglue. The only reason that he didn't notice it was because it was masked with his lavender-scented bath salts.

It didn't take a detective's mind to realize who the culprit was.

He walked into the kitchen to find Naga pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"Hey guys, what's up? Hey, have you seen where all the hot sauce went?" he said, trying to sound like he was failing at lying.

"Well, as much fun as this is, I gotta work on the T-Car."

Five minutes after Cyborg left, his screams could be heard coming from the garage.

When all of them went down, they found him in the air, being thrown back and forth between two magnets. They noticed the car door open, and inside, the seats and gear shifter all ripped up.

"Dude what happened?!" Beast Boy asked.

"Get me down from here!"

Naga went over to the control box and made sure to turn the magnets off at the height of his ascent.

**THUD!**

Cyborg came crashing down, face first. When he regained consciousness, his human eye kept going in clockwise circles.

"Friend please, how did this happen to you?"

I was going to vacuum the inside of the car, when I found it like that." He pointed at the torn seats.

"Huh, so that's where Teether went." This time he was faking surprise.

"Then I found myself in a home-made tilt-a-whirl."

Both he and Robin locked glares at the only person in the room chuckling that wasn't Beast Boy.

"Let this be a lesson. Never leave me with children." He smugly floated out with his hands behind his back.

"He's good," Beast Boy said in reverence to the pranking deity that had come into their lives.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Not to blow my own horn, but I kinda pride myself on writing a story with chapters that can be dark in one part, but also go to light-hearted in another part. Some of the inspiration for the prank war came from jarec's story "**Recovery**," and the idea of throwing the kids into the mix was because I've seen the episode "**Hide and Seek**," for like the ten-dozenth time. Also, in the note where it says, "_you'll be on toilet duty for the next three months!_" I got from one of Benson's many threats to Mordecai and Rigby on Regular show.

In all seriousness, should this be the end to the story, or should I put in at least one more chapter. I've got no clue. Review me with what you think I should do. Also review me with any questions, comments, or even requests for the story.


	12. Red Threads of Fate

**New Guy Naga**

_**Chapter 12: Red Threads of Fate**_

Since Naga's false obliteration of the Brotherhood, people were on the fence about whether he was someone to keep around, or a liability. On the plus side, when he transformed, he was willing to obliterate criminals without a second thought. But if he was willing to kill criminals without hesitation, what was to stop him from taking over the city.

Adopting his mentors, 'hiding in the shadows,' style, Robin decided that they would do hidden patrols.

Each of them had special abilities that would allow them to remain undetected.

Robin was a master of disguise.

Beast Boy could turn into an insect and hide in plain sight.

Starfire's alien sense of sight could allow her to stay hidden in the cloud cover, while still being able to see what was happening on the ground below.

Naga's geokinesis could allow him to travel right under peoples' noses.

Cyborg's holo-tech always seemed to come through for him.

And Raven practically lived in the shadows.

Each of them were assigned to teams of two.

Starfire would watch the east part of the city from the skies, while Naga stayed in the literal underground; Robin and Beast Boy would patrol the city's northern outskirts; while Raven and Cyborg would take patrol downtown.

Robin was disguised in sunglasses, jeans, a brown leather jacket, and gray t-shirt. He went down an alley and up a fire-escape to the roof of an apartment building. He was greeted by a green dragonfly sitting on an air-vent shaft.

The insect changed to the familiar form of Beast Boy.

Pulling out their communicators, they were greeted by the faces of the other Titans.

"Anyone find any trouble?"

"Everything is clear from my perspective," Starfire said from the skies.

"No trouble down below."

"Everything's all clear on my end," Cyborg said from his disguised car.

"Same as usual."

"Okay, everyone do another lap, then head back to the Tower."

Beast Boy turned into a fly and flew into an alley, while Robin looked over the city from the rooftops.

"Friend Naga, I believe I see something," Starfire said after about six minutes of silence. Flying down lower, she was able to see three buildings on fire, and most of the city's fire depot. trying their hardest to put it out.

"I can feel the heat even down here! I'm coming up!"

An instant later, Starfire had flown down from the skies, and Naga came out of the ground through a manhole.

"Everyone, get over here NOW!" he yelled into his communicator.

Starfire flew through a burning window, followed by Naga.

Using his left hand to try and dissipate the fire, and shooting off beams of ice at the flames with his right, Naga tried to navigate his way through burning building.

Through the fire he could just barely make out Starfire searching for any people still in there.

Unfortunately, the ice he made didn't last long, and if he used any big freezing moves, the floor would probably collapse underneath him.

"Star!" he yelled.

A red blur flew past him and out the windows.

Looking outside, he saw Starfire handing a mother and her son over to the firemen.

As he flew outside, he clenched his fists together, causing the surrounding hydrants to explode. Turning the gushing water into highly compressed water arms, he forced them at the flames and through the walls of the three buildings.

Unfortunately, this had the added effect of weakening the buildings' structural integrity.

Using her alien strength, Starfire was able to push one of the buildings back into place, with Naga using stone pillars to prop the other two back into position.

Soon the other four were at the scene of the disaster.

Raven used her powers to direct the hydrant water in less volatile waves.

Cyborg, Beast Boy, Robin, and Starfire went through the other two apartments looking for anyone else trapped inside.

Needing a faster way to put out the fires, Naga flew through the clouds and manipulated the water molecules to merge them into a giant white blob that covered half the city. Charging lightning through his arms, he clapped his hands together, sending black beams of electricity across the white mass.

The white clouds turned gray, and clapped with thunder. Rain started to come out of the looming mass.

The others came out of the now soggy building carrying any survivors they could find.

"Naga, I want you to try and find anymore people still trapped inside, but be careful, I'm not so sure those buildings are going to hold for very long."

Searching through the middle building was easier said than done, as even the slightest touch to a wall, and the whole structure would shudder. Trying to not bring the building down on top of him, Naga had to use wingless flight, while keeping his entire body set in a single stiff position.

In order to see through the charred building's remains, he carefully placed both hands out in front of him and lit a small fire to give him some search light.

Moving up to the second floor, he started to hear faint sounds coming from down the halls.

Slowly floating down the hall, guided by his small flame, he looked through each of the rooms, finding nothing. Because of the charred wood surrounding him, he couldn't pick up a real smell.

"Hello?" he called out. The echo reverberated across the walls and was responded to with a deathly wail, louder than before.

The unearthly moan startled him so much that he accidentally backed into a wall, and because it was destroyed by the previous fire, he went through it completely. When he hit the floor, it gave way under him. This caused the entire structure to give a massive '_creeaak_'.

As Naga regained himself in the air, and started hovering a safe few inches above the unstable floor, his communicator started going off.

"Naga, what's going on?!"

"You could say I got backed into a wall," he said trying to diffuse the unease he was feeling.

"We're coming in after you," Robin said.

"No! This place is unstable as it is. Plus the floors on the upper levels are rotted to the core, and you and Cyborg can't fly. I'll be fine. When I'm done here, I'll do a search through the other apartments."

"Be careful friend," Starfire said.

More creaks and groans came from the soon-to-collapse house.

_If anyone's here I gotta' find them, fast_, he thought to himself.

He went down to the very last door in the corridor.

When he gently pushed it aside, he found a woman trapped under support beams that came out of the floor above them. Cradled in her arms, was an infant, its face blackened by soot. It was still asleep, though how, no human would know.

He dropped himself to the floor, but a few of the saurian claws on his right foot managed to force his entire foot through the burnt floor.

Raising himself in air he slowly moved towards the tattern, bruised lady trapped under rubble.

She saw him coming, coughed up soot, and raised herself with her left arm as best she could, though all she could do was use her elbow to raise the upper half of her body.

On the ceiling of the very top floor, a was beam dangling directly above them, and was aimed straight over the mother.

It inevitably snapped from the ceiling. It would certainly have impaled them. However at the last minute, something within Naga made him fly directly at the falling shrapnel, and use his shoulders to ram it through the wall that led outside.

That was the straw the broke the camel's already weak back. This time when the building lurched, it wouldn't stop.

Heavy debris, like fallen dressers and destroyed washing machines collapsed through the floor and onto the ground below them.

Forcing her broken form over to Naga, she raised her child up to him.

"I'm going to help you," he tried to reassure her, as he took the baby into his arms.

The soot that built up in her lungs prevented her from speaking, but the look in her eyes. She knew that this was her time.

Before Naga could attempt to deny death a victim, the entire level of the apartment collapsed.

Everything from the two floors above them came crashing down.

* * *

Outside, after agonizing waiting, the Titans attention was caught to the collapsing building. The fall of the building was enough to bring the other two down with it.

Out of the rubble came Naga protected by an air vortex bubble. In his arms was a child that he handed off to the paramedics.

In the ambulance that came to take the victims away, the child was being fit with an oxygen pump. Raven was brought into the ambulance to try and help the choking baby.

Using her powers, she pulled out the substance that matched her dark energy.

A medic came over to the Titans, "with your help Ms. Raven we were able to save the girl's life, though because of her underdeveloped lungs, and because the substance was in there for some time, they've been rather... eroded, so-to-say."

"Will the child be all right?" the alien questioned.

"She'll need surgery, but I think she'll be fine."

"Hey! I found someone!" a fireman yelled.

They pulled out the mangled body of the baby girl's mom.

Knowing that life no longer flowed through her, they placed a blanket over her, and loaded her on a bus that was supposed to return to the morgue.

Naga told his friends that the woman they loaded on the bus was the child's mother, and that she had willingly passed on to the afterlife.

Before the bus could leave for the corpse house, several more bodies were found in the rubble of the other buildings. A few of them were elderly men and women. Others were children, just like the child Naga had saved, only not so lively.

"You did good kid," one of the fireman said.

_What's the point. Many innocents died; we only saved one. As well, that child has lost her mother, and shall live in fear forever_, Frostbite said.

_But the mother died to save a new generation, and I have no doubt that she will be rewarded in the next life_, Marina said, trying to raise Naga's spirits.

_What would any of you know about an afterlife, you're immortal!_ Naga scolded. Another child's future was stolen, and she was too young to even know it. He could relate.

_If fate is kind, she will give the child a caring foster home, and when she is old enough, she will learn the truth of her past, and hopefully come to terms with it_, Darkvolt said.

* * *

The next day at training, Robin thought that Naga wouldn't be very focused, and would suggest he sit out.

In reality, Naga was more focused than any of them.

During the obstacle course challenge, he wielded a katana blade made of sharpened stone, and used it to channel his attacks.

When he came to the giant red and white targets, he coated the sword's blade in ice, and slashed it through the air. Though most of the frozen shards impacted with the surrounding rocks, a few manged to lodge themselves through the targets.

Out of the ground came the laser turrets.

Naga remodeled his sword into the shape of two hollow wind and fire wheels.

Jumping into the air, he used the bladed circle in his right hand to send a ball of fire down onto the battle field. Using the wheel in his left hand, he sent hurricane force winds to guide the flames under the turret stalks, melting them.

Though the others wouldn't tell him, he frightened them a little when he really began to use his powers, and they weren't the only ones.

* * *

A few times, Robin and Beast Boy received messages from the Justice League and Doom Patrol respectively. All said the same thing: '_never let your guard down_.' In one of Beast Boy's messages, Mento said that he and the rest of the Doom Patrol would be arriving at the Tower in four days time, give or take a few minutes.

In the four days before their arrival, Beast Boy was the most frantic they'd ever seen him. He was running around chibi-style, dusting off countertops and using his octopus arms to scrub the giant monitor/windows.

"Can somebody please run the dish washer!" he said handing piles of dishes to the others.

"Slow down B," Cyborg said as he grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar. While Beast Boy was in Cyborg's grip, he started using a wax buffer on his metal friend.

"Dudes! This is the first time that Mento and the others are seeing our headquarters and I want to make a good first impression, and this place is a complete mess!" Even though most of the Tower was spotless.

Beast Boy even cleaned up his own room. Actually clean would be an overstatement. More like he just shoved all of his old clothes and trash in his closet and bolted the door shut. With any luck, they would be able to completely avoid that minefield.

Soon the Doom Patrol's giant white jet could be seen through the windows, then disappeared to the rooftop. The G-forces from the jet shattered the dish piles that were placed in the sink.

"Dudes we are so screwed," Beast Boy said as he facepalmed.

* * *

When they got to the rooftop, Beast Boy put on a happy grin.

Rita was the first to come out of the jet. When she stepped out, she lovingly embraced her adopted son. She was followed by Robot Man, Negative Man, and finally Mento.

"It's, good to see ya' kid."

"Hey Cliff!"

Each of the Titans greeted their Doom Patrol counterparts. Except Naga, who stayed quiet the whole time.

When they led the Doom Patrol to the living room, Mento seemed to keep a close eye on Naga the whole time.

"If I recall from Beast Boy's messages, you seem to have quite a, _history_, Naga," Mento said as they took a seat on the crescent-shaped couch. They noticed that he stressed, 'history.'

In his mind, Naga could hear Inferno sharpening his claws on a boulder.

"Please excuse my husband; he has trust issues. If you could Naga, tell us a bit about yourself."

"The whole reason we came here was just so Mento could know if you were working with the Brotherhood and a threat to Beast Boy and the others," Negative Man blurted out.

"Larry!" Mento fumed.

"Give him a break Mento, it was gonna come out sooner or later," Robot Man said.

Naga's eyes narrowed as he eyed the leader of the Doom Patrol like a vulture eyeing a prairie dog.

"I only worry about my son's safety."

"Mento I'm not a little kid anymore. I've been to alien planets. I've saved the world from inter-dimensional demons," Beast Boy told his adoptive father.

"I know that Garfield, but that doesn't mean I can't worry."

By now the members of each team was staring each other in the eye.

"I think we've overstayed our welcome," Rita said as she tugged on Mento's arm.

"Please, stay," Marina said through Naga.

"Is that one of the monster's the child hosts!" Mento's hands had flown up to the sides of his helmet.

"You will not call us monster's human filth!" Now Inferno was speaking. The Titans knew that Naga had willingly reared his hand up to strike if necessary, because the guardians could only speak through him, while he still had motor functions. Either that or Inferno was able to muster enough willpower to take control of his body.

_Calm yourself Inferno!_ Darkvolt scolded.

"Please forgive our friend. He still struggles with the possession."

"As long as you can forgive my husband's brashness, which we _will_ be discussing on the way home." Rita stressed, 'will.'

_Someone's in the doghouse_, Airheart sang.

_No offense Frostbite_, he added.

The Titans were on the roof seeing the Doom Patrol off, though the expressions they wore were of an anxiousness for their guests leave.

Likewise, the Doom Patrol weren't very hesitant about departing.

"Sorry about Mento," Beast Boy said after the Doom Patrol's white jet took off.

When he turned around, Naga had already left the roof and was in his room.

* * *

_One step forward and two steps back_, Frostbite said.

_What are you talking about you swine?_ Sub-Terror said in disgust. Sub-Terror was often sickened by Frostbite's meekness, which clashed with his own hit first ask questions later mindset.

_I mean any 'progress,' we make in trying to be accepted only backfires up our asses. Why do we even try?_

_I will agree with Frostbite on this one. But instead of hiding away like roaches, we should have these humans bowing at our feet and have them beg for us to protect their worthless lives!_ Inferno angrily stated.

_You can go ahead with the conquering without me, I don't feel like goin' to that much trouble_, Airheart lazily stated.

Naga tried to mentally block out their argument, though he was unsuccessful. The biggest disadvantage of being a vessel for six powerful beings: he had to sit through their fighting.

He took his trenchcoat off and threw it on a chair, and layed down on his bed.  
_W__hy did it have to be me to find the seal? Why was I the one to lose his family and everything he ever knew?_

_Naga, you may not care for it, but I would like to give you my opinion_, Marina politely said.

_Whatever_. At this point he had stopped caring.

_I believe that you, us, and the Titans, are all connected by the Red Threads of Fate_.

_What garbage are you spilling now Marina?!_ Inferno yelled.

_Unlike you four, me and Darkvolt are actually interested in learning about human beliefs_.

_Do you have any clue about what she's saying?_ Frosgtbite whispered to Naga.

_Not really_, he admitted.

_Hmph, even our host has no clue of whatever nonsense you speak of_, Inferno shot back.

_Well then allow me to educate you. The Red Threads of Fate is an East Asian belief, that people who are destined to fall in love, or people who are destined to help one another in a certain way, will inevitably cross paths. The thread can be stretched through time, or tangled across the world, but it can never be broken. I feel that you were destined to cross paths with the Titans, just as they came into each other's lives; and look at what became of it; Robin and Starfire fell in love, Raven found the strength to deny destiny itself, and banish Trigon back to his own dimension, and all of them found a family in each other. I believe that you will too_.

_Yeah sure_, he said sarcastically. It was true that the Titans had grown close to him. Sometimes he felt genuine happiness. But the pure hatred he felt for Eiling robbing his life from him, could only be undone by keeping him alive, but to feel pain that would make him stand on a needle tip from death. To have his crimson red eyes be the the last thing the murderer ever see, and have the angel of death take its next victim.

But even if justice was brought, he wasn't sure if the hate would ever leave his soul.

Naga was brought out of his seven way mental conversation by the Tower's alarm going off in his room and all throughout the building.

"Great, as if today couldn't get anymore exciting," he sarcastically said to himself.

Grabbing his coat, he flew to the common room on his draconic wings.

When they all got there, the monitor displayed an armed robbery taking place downtown.

"Don't these idiots ever take a break."

"They must've thought we would be to exhausted and decided to cash in," Raven said.

"Well than that's the biggest mistake they'll ever make, titans go!"

The Titans were unprepared for what they would find.

* * *

When they got to the bank, they saw that the thugs were all wearing clown masks, and most of the hostages had bloodshot eyes and unnatural smiles on their faces.

The walls of the bank itself were coated with a single word, 'HA!,' in neon green graffitti.

_It can't be. _Robin knew exactly what this meant.

Maniacal laughter started reverberating around the main lobby of the bank.

"Hey hey kiddies!"

Purple smoke burst out in front of the main vault, and out of the shadows stepped a man dressed in a purple suit. His hair was green, he had blood red lips, and chalk white skin. In his left hand was two chains; a hyena on each end.

"Well if it isn't little bird boy himself. I must say you've grown considerably. Hopefully you didn't get bat-brain's sense of humor, or what little he has hahahahahahahahaha!"

Next to the clown prince of crime stood a girl in a red and black jester suit.

"And allow me to introduce my lovely partner in crime, Harley Quinn!"

"A pleasure to be with you Mr. J, as always," Harley said in her Brooklyn accent.

"What are you doing here Joker? Did you finally realize Batman was to much for you to handle?"

"Not exactly bird brat. You see, I was feeling, umm, stale, in Gotham, and I heard Black Mask made a little unsuccessful business venture here. So I decided, why not take my act on the road, bring laughs to everyone in the world, and I figured, hey, why not give a little hello to the Bat's little feathered pest. By the way, nice town ya' got here, can't wait to have some 'fun,' with it."

"The only thing you'll be doing is going back to Arkham, titans attack!"

The clown masked villains were armed with either aluminum bats, crowbars, or machine guns. It seemed the Joker was holding of the gunman back as a last resort. Dozens of masked goons circled the Titans.

All of them attacked at once.

Slashing his hand through the air, Naga used a wind wave to knock back most of them.

Cyborg slammed his sonic cannon into the ground causing a sonic shockwave.

The goons shook off the attack. Each of them pressed a button on their gloves.

A strange green liquid started flowing through tubes that had been concealed underneath their jacket sleeves. Each of the thugs dropped to the floor. They started increasing in muscle mass; growing larger and larger.

The goons had grown at least twice in size. Three times for the initially smaller ones.

"Surprise surprise! Just a little venom I uh, _borrowed_, from Bane hmhmhm."

The Titans had to bend their heads backwards just to make eye contact with the now super enhanced goons.

_We're doomed_, Frostbite said.

The goons smashed their fists into the floor, causing jagged stone to fly everywhere.

While the others got into the air, Naga stayed on the ground, being able to withstand the attack.

By now the hyenas were starting to get excited, causing the Joker to need to use both hands to hold onto their chains.

"Harley, could you be a dear and let Bud and Lou off, I think they need a little fun time, hahahahaha!"

"Certaintly Mr. J." Quinn casually walked over to the giant metal collars around the the hyenas' necks. She slipped a small key into each of the cuffs, and the minute they were free, they pounced into the action.

"Harley did you remember to feed them this morning?"

"No Mr. J, don't you remember; I was busy loading the equipment onto the truck."

"Hmm, maybe we should be fair and give the kiddies a heads up." Before Joker could speak, he noticed how the Titans were having a hard time dealing with the superpowered goons, and the starving predators.

"But on second thought, I'd hate to bother them, hehahahahahaha!"

Beast Boy had to transform into a sasquatch just to be on level with the roid raging clowns. But even in that form he was still a head shorter.

One of the goons actually tore off the bank vault and started using it as a giant club.

"Thanks for getting that mugsy." Joker and Harley casually walked into the vault accompanied by three envenomed goons that looked like the three stooges.

"Take it all boys hahahahahahahaha!"

"Raven, infinite darkness!" Robin yelled.

"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" The walls, floors, and ceiling of the bank became encased in Raven's dark energy. The only light coming from the gunfire of the Joker's henchmen.

"Now Naga!" Dark lightning tentacles encased the musclebound goons. But though Naga's lightning was effective, the venom gave the goons superhuman durability, enough to even outlast Naga's lightning.

_You fool! You waste our power! Kill them now!_ Inferno screamed inside his head.

Naga could feel Inferno's willpower trying to overtake him.

Naga was involuntarily increasing the power of the tentacles.

The venom tubes that were attatched to the thugs were so overwhelmed that they flew off the goons' arms.

The goons started to decrease in size until they were their normal sizes.

However, Naga was still increasing the power.

"Naga stop!"

"I... can't!" Naga tried to say.

Raven tried to send her soul-self into Naga's subconscious.

"Not quite demon spawn!" Inferno said through Naga. Inferno used Naga's body to shoot off a lightning bolt at the empath. However, Naga tried to pull his arm away at the last minute. The shot went off its true path and ended up destroying the ceiling directly above Raven. She had to refocus her mind to stop the debris from falling on her.

_Inferno stop this madness!_ Marina screamed.

_No dear sister, I am doing what's right!_

_Do you truly mean what you say?_ the water spirit questioned.

_We have lost our home once, I'm not about to let it happen again!_

_No one blames you for our imprisonment Inferno, the Spider Guild was just too strong!_

_Well I for one am not going to make the same mistake again._ In the material world, Naga's eyes had went from crimson red, to completely pitch black.

"Wowza, and I thought I was a basket case." Joker, Harley, and the three stooges that accompanied them in came out with bags full of money.

"Time to do what the Bat never would, or could!" Inferno said.

Inferno, in his host's body, shot off multiple fireballs at Joker.

However, the clown prince of crime was encased in a black dome.

Inferno saw Raven's hand outstretched with dark energy glowing on her palm.

Inferno reared back Naga's hand, charging lightning to strike down any who would attempt to get in his way.

When suddenly, Naga's eyes kept shifting from black abyss to crimson red human eyes.

"ENOUGH!" Naga screamed.

Chains made from stone and earth wrapped around his limbs and pulled him down.

His right hand was bathed in electricity, while his other was coated in ice, one trying to dominate the other.

His eyes kept glitching between his own and Inferno's.

Forcing his left hand into the air, he brought it down. On himself.

His ice claws had sunken directly into his flesh, but it didn't stop there. While still embedded into his body, Naga dragged them across his chest. Though he wailed in agony, he knew that bringing intense pain onto himself while Inferno was in partial control, would be the only way to stop the fire spirit's rampage.

Blood stained his grey shirt red, and seeped through the pores in his clothes.

From a combination of the mental stress, the unbearable physical pain, and the rapid blood loss, Naga finally fainted in a puddle of red liquid, a look of agony playing on his face.

Every person, be they hero, villain, or passing bystander, looked on in astonishment at what had just transpired.

"Eh, well that was fun while it lasted, hahahahah!" Joker picked up a machine gun and started firing on the Titans, along with his three envenomed goons that hadn't lost their juice.

Raven erected an energy dome to shield herself and the others.

She rolled Naga over onto his back. Soon the microbots that had been placed on his shirt by Cyborg started restoring his clothes to their original condition, though they couldn't do anything about the blood stains or the flesh wounds.

Her hands glowed with her healing blue aura. She could sense the muscles and sinews reconnecting themselves, and reforming on a cellular level; though this much intense damage would take some time to mend. While healing her fallen comrade, she opened up a small hole for Starfire and Cyborg to fire at the psychopathic clown.

* * *

Meanwhile in Naga's subconscious the domed meeting room was partly destroyed. Parts of the ceiling blasted away.

"You have over-stepped your boundries Inferno!" Marina was enraged. Next to her stood Naga on his own platform.

"If any of you had the nerve to finish off the Spider Guild when we had the chance, none of this would be happening!"

"We understand your pain brother, but you were straying too far into the darkness," Darkvolt said.

"None of you understand my pain! To be looked at as only destruction and hate. And to be saved, yet imprisoned, inside a lowly human fledgling, and to forever be his slave." Inferno turned his back to them, and secretly, a tear streamed down his face, though it quickly evaporated from the heat of his skin.

"Brother, each of us have our own attributes that cause people to fear us, you are not alone, _we_ are all alone," Frostbite dismally said.

"And I never thought of you as slaves," Naga chimed in.

"All your people do is lie to gain what they want; how do I know anything you say to be true!"

"Because I hated humans, even before I ever met any of you!" Before Naga ever met the Guardians, his true name was Muhammed, while Omar was his real middle name. However, after the events of the World Trade Center attack, his parents decided to switch his names, and because middle names don't often come up, he would be relatively safe.

But whenever he saw humans insult or harm their own species based on race or birthplace, be the segregator Muslim, Christian, European, or Asian, he lost more and more faith in humanity. At one point he felt that the only way for peace to be brought, was the eradication of the human species itself, even him.

However, this was only a phase, and he eventually became relatively normal; though legally his name was still Omar, his friends and family just called him Muhammed. But life has a way of throwing curveballs at you.

Inferno knew this well, as he and the others often looked through Naga's thoughts and memories.

The fire beast also had secrets of his own. Whenever he saw the Titans stand against evil, it made him wonder about humanity's role in the grand scheme of things, and he had grudgingly developed a very small, tiny bit of respect for the teen heroes, even if he still wouldn't risk a claw for humanity itself.

"Fine, but don't think, that for one second, I'm doing this out of compassion for humanity!"

"That's all we need," Marina said as she placed a caring antenna on Inferno's shoulder.

* * *

Back in the real world the Joker, Harley, and his stooges continued to fire on the Titans.

"Hold it! I've got a better idea!" Joker pulled three purple grenades out of his pockets. After ripping the hooks out he threw them at the dark dome, while Harley and the goons donned gas masks.

"It's Joker Venom! Raven, whatever you do, don't drop the shield, or we'll end up like that!" Robin pointed at the bank staff who had smiles that stretched all the way to their ears.

"Like I always say, Bane's venom ain't got nothing on good ol' Joker Venom, hahahahah!"

Soon the healing process was complete, and Naga's body was back to normal.

Instantely, Naga started to haphazerdly regain consciousness.

"Dude you're alive!"

"That's good, because right now, your the only one that can save us! Joker's spread his laughter death gas all across the room."

Naga shakily got onto his feet, though he needed to hold his side for support.

Clearing his mind as best as he could, Naga mentally collected the gas to the center of the room.

This was just what the Joker needed. Pulling out an army standard grenade from his jacket, he ripped the hook out of its socket. He threw it into gaseous purple cloud.

Empowered by the Joker venom, the grenade created a blinding white explosion that threw the Titans against a wall.

Joker sauntered over to the burned forms of the Titans.

Reloading his gun, he said with a wicked smirk, "I think you've all earned a nice little time out. Time to go to the big playground in the sky."

Naga, who was able to hold back some of the blast, was still partly conscious. He saw the Joker standing over him, machine gun armed.

"Now, who do I kill first? I've always wanted to wring this bird's neck, but I should save him for last. That's what I'll do, kill everyone randomly to make his death even more hilarious!"

"Brilliant, as always Mr. J."

"I'll save little red as second to last, I've heard that she's turned Robin into a lovebird, hahahahahaaa."

Joker pointed his gun at Raven, his first target.

But before he could pull the trigger, Naga, defying his pained body's protests, shoved the machine gun out of the way a split second before the clown could fire.

Before Joker could respond, Naga grabbed his head with both hands. He thrust Joker's head down, and the clown's chalk white face made contact with the vessel's knee.

Using the Forbidden Technique: Destruction From Within, Naga started to control Joker's very blood. Holding his arm out and manuevering his fingers as if he was holding a marionette control, he threw Joker across every part of the bank. When the clown prince's face was lacerated and bruised, Naga slowly turned his palm into a fist.

Lar, Mo, and Cur aimed their guns at Naga, but soon found themselves in his psychic grip.

Forcing them to drop the guns, he started to cause them agony from the very fluids that kept them alive.

After hearing their worthless pleas for mercy, he released his hold over them.

He walked over to Joker's body, and placed the claws at the end of his foot, no more than two inches from his neck.

_Naga, if you do this, you will be a monster_, Marina told him.

He expected Infero to come in screaming, 'kill!' but it never came.

When he looked over his shoulders, he saw Harley with a pistol quivering in her hands.

Before she could fire, Naga made a stone spike fly out of the ground and lodge itself in the weapon.

"Run," he said. Harley took two nervous steps back, and bolted out a destroyed window.

Soon the police came, and put Joker on a bus that would take him back to Arkham.

* * *

The very next morning, the Titans had been called to the city hall for a 'special occasion.'

A large stand had been placed in front of the hub of the city's government, with a mob of people standing outside.

"We are here today because of Naga," the mayor announced. This time, the crowd didn't boo, but they didn't cheer either.

"We are here because, we want to thank you."

All of the Titans were caught by surprise at that last sentence.

"Because of your service to the city, saving the innocent, and defending us from the criminally insane, we welcome you to our city with open arms."

The crowd erupted into cheers of joy.

However, both Raven and Naga were not convinced. While the other four smiled and waved at the crowd, Raven could sense that a vast majority were still wary of Naga, even though on the outside they masked it with joy. Naga could tell what Raven sensed, and he even wondered if he could even trust himself.

_Naga, you worry too much_, Airheart happily said.

_They may try to mask their anxiety with joy, but it shall not work, while some may trust, we shall always be feared. How do we even know if we can trust ourselves; any day, any of us could be corrupted_, Frostbite moped.

_But until that day, we stand together, us and Titans_, Marina said.

_How do we know none of us can be corrupted?_ Inferno asked. This time his voice was void of any rage.

While Naga contemplated this, he and Raven put on smiles and waved to the crowd.

**THE END?**

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry it's been so long. School's is back on and I've always got homework, so I've only got free time on weekends. Plus, I've become addicted to DC Universe Online, and it is freakin' sweet.

So you got more of Naga's pre-power life. What do ya' think. Did you like it did you hate it? Your feedback is always appreciated, unless it's intense flaming.

I've scrapped "Super Smash Titans Brawl." The idea just wasn't going anywhere, so I'll be working on a story that is more of a collection of short stories. It'll be called, **"Holidays with the Titans,"** it'll basically be how the holidays are spent at Titans Tower and in Jump City, and it will feature Naga.

Also if you have any questions about the story, or have any requests and/or ideas for other stories, review and/or private message me and I'll think about it.

**P.S.** If any of you know the difference between regular documents and document exports, please tell me.


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